Reviving Ponyboy
by risty234
Summary: Ponyboy, he's different. Johnny died and Dally's in the cooler after robbing a store. He's meaner, colder and harsher than Dally ever was. Darry and Soda don't know what to do to get back their little brother that liked sunsets. Can Dally bring back the old dreamer and figure what turn Ponyboy cold and who knows Dally be different. Dark secrets will be revealed!
1. Chapter 1:Welcome to New Pony

Ever since Johnny death and Dally being in the cooler, every single person in the gang had changed whether that was for good or bad was questionable. For instance, Steve was still the hard working mechanic but he wasn't as cruel as he was to Pony. Two-bit was same old still making wise cracks every chance he gets. Darry still made him his mission to keep Soda and Pony together and away from a boy's home. Soda was constantly worried about Pony but he was still the understanding guy that Pony cared about. Pony had to be the one who changed the most for the worst, he wasn't one who cared about his grades anymore or he didn't care for sunsets. School for Pony was a different story, nobody tried to mess with him anymore considering he turned cold. It was like Pony was trying to take the place of Dally while he was stuck in the cooler. Darry was reading the newspaper while Two-bit was watching his beloved Mickey Mouse show with a beer in his hand. Pony walked downstairs from his bedroom and looked around the room and he was about to lit a cig. Darry rolled his eyes,

"Pony, no smoking inside" Darry couldn't help but cross his arms.

"Fine, I was going to hang out with the Shepards anyway" Pony put the cig back into his denim jacket. "No Ponyboy," Darry was in front of Pony with his arms crossed against his muscles underneath his black t-shirt. "You can't keep me here forever" Pony huffed before storming back upstairs to his room. Ever since Johnny died and Dally was in the cooler, Pony told Soda to go back to his old room which Soda did because he wanted to make his little brother happy. "What happened to Pony," Soda asked Darry and Darry just shook his head.

"I have no idea little buddy" Darry rubbed Soda's head and Soda rolled his eyes.

"Well, that's Steve," Soda said while rushing to meet his best friend since forever aka Steve Randle. They both were heading to work at the gas station like they always do on this day causing Darry to be left with Pony. Nobody could get through to Pony even, Two-bit tried one day when he advised Pony don't get hard because he wasn't like everybody in the group. It still didn't work so now at this point Darry was about to give up. Steve tried to talk him to once because Soda begged him to try to get his brother back.

"Two-bit, I have to get to work" Darry announced to Two-bit and he nodded.

"I'll watch the kid," Two-bit said taking a sip of his beer and eating chocolate cake. Meanwhile in Pony's room, he was lying down on his bed doing absolutely nothing really. He opened up Gone with the Wind book and he opened it where it was a letter from Johnny. Pony looked at the letter before crumpling it up and tossing it in the trash can. Pony didn't want to look at that letter anymore. Two-bit walked into Pony's room and Pony glared at him.

"You can't always watch me" Pony continued to glare at Two-bit and Two-bit rolled his eyes.

"Darry will kill me if I don't" Two-but was leaning against the wall and Pony once again rolled his eyes.

"Fine" Pony snapped before moving his hair out of his eyes. Pony's hair got long just like good old Dallas Winston. Don't get me started on Pony's eyes, it was cold and hard filled with hatred when the gang saw his eyes Steve, Two-bit, Soda, and Darry were freaked out and for a good reason to.

"What the hell is wrong with you Pony" Two-bit stated to him in a serious matter because this was Ponyboy.

"Nothing now move Keith" Pony spat before pushing him out of his way. Two-bit grabbed his arm and Pony pushed Two-bit causing him to hit the wall. Two-bit glared at Pony and watched as Pony walked out of the room. Two-bit rubbed the back of his neck.

"Darry is going to kill me" Two-bit mumbled to himself before sitting down on the couch. Two-bit was holding his head in his hand. Pony was walking around Tulsa lilting up a cigarette. "Hey Curly, Tim" Pony greeted the Shepards once he entered the Shepards household.

"Curtis" Tim nodded his head before walking out of his house. "What's up with him" Pony handed a cigarette to Curly and Curly just shrugged his shoulders.

"What's up with you" Curly raised an eyebrow at him. Pony just glared at him.

"Nothing is up with me" Pony growled at Curly causing Curly back away from Pony. The Shepards knew something was wrong with Pony especially Curly knew Pony wasn't himself for some reason.

"There is something wrong with you ever since we went to Buck" Curly pointed out to Pony and Pony eyes went wide before pushing Curly back against the wall.

"Don't you ever mention that name to me ever again" Pony glared at him. Pony walked out of the Shepards and Curly shook his head. Curly would never admit to anyone but Ponyboy scared the crap out of him. Darry picked Soda up and Darry kept driving in the opposite way of home causing Soda to be confused. "Where we going' Soda asked Darry and Darry turned his head.

"We going to see Dallas" Darry drove up to the jail. They sat in front of Dallas on the other side of the table. Dallas just tilted his head at both Soda and Darry.

"Guys" Dallas greeted them.

"Hey Dals" Soda smiled at him and Dal moved his hair out of his eyes. It reminded Soda of Ponyboy considering that Pony's hair was basically covering his eyes.

"What are you guys doing here" Dal leaned back in his chair.

"We need your help" Darry looked at his hands. "You do know where we are right. I can't do anything when I am in here" Dallas told them.

"Ponyboy basically turning into you" Darry crossed his arms.

"No, he's not" Dals looked shocked at Darry.

"His eyes are cold and icy Dallas" Soda jumped into the conversation.


	2. Chapter 2: Buck's Party

THIS CHAPTER TRIGGER WARNING

Dally looked confused and Darry and Soda just looked down at their feet.

"We don't know what to do anymore" Darry rubbed his back and for once Dally could feel a sense of guilt building up in him. For once in Dallas life, he could see how stressed out Darry was. Darry had a stubble more of a stubble compared to Dallas.

"I'm sorry guys" Dallas apologized for the first time in his life. Darry raised an eyebrow while leaning back against his chair.

"It's not your fault" Soda gave him a smile.

"I told him he needed to get tough and wise up" Dallas was leaning back in his chair.

"Yeah maybe you did tell Pony but I am sure Pony wasn't listening to you" Darry put his hand on Dals shoulders.

Dally just nodded, "You know I should get out for good behavior" Dally shrugged his shoulders. The fuzz walked up to the table with Dallas, Darry and Soda.

"We have 20 minutes more" Soda exclaimed to the fuzz. The fuzz unlocked the handcuffs and Dally looked at the fuzz strangely.

"Winston, you're free to go" The fuzz announced him before leaving him with Soda and Darry.

Soda and Darry both had a small smile on their faces. Dals hopped into Darry's truck. He was sitting in the back and Soda was in the passenger seat.

"So, what in the world do you think I can do" Dal stated in a bored voice.

"I think you can talk to him. You can't do anything worse" Darry said in his husky voice.

"Dally hard and cold is your thing but not Pony" Soda said while Darry parked the truck in the driveway. Darry and Soda opened the door and Two-bit jumped up from the couch and he looked distraught.

"Two-bit what happened" Soda crossed his arms.

"Pony left" Two-bit looked down and Darry shook his head. "

Of course he did. Did he go to the Shepards" Soda had this worried look and Two-bit just nodded?

"Yeah I think so but Curly came by here asking if Pony was here" Two-bit informed Darry and Soda. Darry just walked into the kitchen and that's when Dallas said something causing Two-bit to realize that he got out.

"Dally what you doing out" Two-bit asked him cocking an eyebrow, his signature thing.

"So, you guys aren't going to search for Pony" Dally ignored Two-bit question.

"Pony can handle himself" Darry turned and continued walking into the kitchen.

Dally looked confused at Soda. "He beat up at least 5 socs just the other night" Soda explained and Dally looked impressed.

"You sure you want the old Ponyboy" Dally looked at them confused because to be honest, it would be amazing that Pony could hold himself in a fight.

"Yes we want the old Pony" Soda glared at Dally. In that moment, Pony walked into the house with a cigarette in his hand and Pony was wearing leather jacket and ripped jeans.

"Pones" Dal tilted his head at Pony and Pony eyes went wide and then turned back into cold.

"Dallas" Pony walked into his bedroom and shut the door.

"You guys aren't going to mention the fact that his eyes were red like he was doing drugs" Dally crossed his arms and looked at Soda and Darry.

"We tried to get him to stay in house to prevent the drug use" Darry announced to Dally. If there was one thing that Dally couldn't deal with was drugs. He didn't mind stealing and drinking but hardcore drugs was another different thing. Dallas couldn't believe that little smart Pony was actually taking drugs.

Meanwhile Pony was just in his room, his door was barcoded by books. Pony kept pacing back and forth and he couldn't believe that Dallas Winston was out of jail. He didn't want Dally out because despite what anyone thinks, Dally could tell bullshit from a mile away. Pony was afraid for the first time in months because Dallas Winston could be cruel because of Johnny's death. Pony felt himself leaning against the door with tears go down his cheek. He closed his eyes before a memory popped up into his head.

 _It was party at Buck's and Curly had invited him to go and heck even the Shepards gang was there. Dally was gone and arrested._

 _Pony was just leaning against the bar and Curly gave him a nudge. "Sorry about your black haired friend Johnny was it" Curly gave him his condolences and Pony just shrugged his shoulders a little._

 _"Shit happens" Pony gave Curly a pointed look and with that Curly grabbed his beer before joining his gang. Pony just grabbed his beer and he couldn't help but needed to use the bathroom. He put his beer on the counter at the bar before going over to the bathroom. He turned around and he noticed that he wasn't alone instead there stood Buck Merrill, Pony could tell he was drunk. Pony seen Two-bit a lot drunk. Pony backed away before trying to leave the bathroom but Buck blocked the doorway and Pony felt a sense of fear more so than when he first got jumped more so than when Johnny was jumped or when Pony almost died in the fire or drowning._

 _"Let me go" Pony commanded Buck and Buck shook his head before pushing Pony against the wall causing Pony to squeak._

 _"You were always attractive" Buck mumbled into Pony's ears._

 _"Every time Dally brought you here, I could never keep my eyes off you" Buck continued while kissing his neck and Pony eyes went wide and tried once again to push Buck off him but Buck was much heavier._

 _Pony just hoped someone would interrupt Buck but the door was locked. Buck whispered in Pony's ears,_

 _"You scream I'll make it worse for you" and Pony just felt Buck's hand roaming all over his body. Pony felt sick in that moment, he tried everything in his power to push him back but all he got was a slap across his face._

He could feel Buck putting himself in and when Ponyboy opened his eyes Buck was dressing himself and Pony was on the floor with tears falling onto his cheek and Buck left the bathroom. Pony got his clothes and started putting on his jeans while flinching every once a while.

 _He stormed out of the bathroom and he saw Curly grabbing his arm, "Where you going"_

 _"I'm going home, Darry and Soda are going to kill me for coming here" Ponyboy pulled his arm before rushing home. He locked his bedroom and tears fell down some more. Soda was still working at DX, it turns out the gas station decides to be open 24 hours now_. Pony opened his eyes and Pony walked in front of his mirror and shook his head while perfecting his cold, hatred and hardened smile and with that he walked away and plopped down on the couch and grabbed the remote from Two-bit and Two-bit did nothing and Dals raised an eyebrow at Two-bit and Two-bit shrugged his shoulders. Two-bit wanted to watch Mickey Mouse but he didn't want to argue with Pony at all.


	3. Chapter 3: Telling Dallas Winston

Dally knew he was supposed to talk to Pony but what the hell was he supposed to say. Darry and Soda knows he suck at comforting people or even talking to people at all.

Pony wasn't in the house at all. After he took the remote from Two-bit he left and nobody seemed to care anymore. Dallas went into Pony's room which was down the hall from the living room. Dallas looked around Pony's room and for the first time ever Dally looked over at the trash bin and he started digging around in it. Dally unrumpled up a paper and he looked down at the bottom of the paper. It was from Johnny to Pony and Dally couldn't understand why Pony would throw that letter in the trash. Johnny was Pony's best friend and Dally looked over on the table and there stood a journal labeled as _The Outsiders_. Dally opened it and the door opened and there stood Pony while he was slowly glaring at Dally.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING MY ROOM" Pony screeched at Dally and was about to lunge at Dally but Dally was stronger than Pony and had Pony pinned against the wall.

"DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT" Dally screeched back and for a moment Pony shrunk down because he knew that Dally would not hesitant to hurt him unlike Two-bit, or heck even his brothers and Steve wouldn't dare lay a hand on his best friend brother even if Pony was acting like a tool. Dallas saw in that moment that Pony was slightly afraid of him. Dallas backed away from Pony and Pony shook his head.

"Get out" Pony told Dally in a soft spoken voice that Dally don't think he ever heard Pony speak like that ever. Dally just stared at him at Pony and in that moment Dally saw something underneath his eyes, pain hurt and maybe a little bit anger.

"Pony" Dally grabbed his arms and Pony looked away.

"Dallas don't" Pony was begging Dallas and Dallas just continued to stare at the youngest Curtis.

"What happened to you Pones, Tough and hard does not suit you" Dally told Pony and Pony shook his head.

"That's what my mom thought about you Dally" Pony crossed his arms and with that Dally finally left Pony's room and Dally leaned against the wall before running into Soda. "Soda, your brother isn't gone" Dallas nudged him before getting ready to leave the Curtis's.

"What do you mean" Soda pulled Dallas back in.

"His eyes weren't cold and filled with hatred when he was looking at me Soda" Dallas looked at Soda before walking over to Buck's. Dallas entered Buck's and he heard Hank Williams which made Dallas feel sick to his stomach. Dallas saw Tim drinking some beer. He nudged Tim Shepard and Tim turned around.

"When did you get out" Tim asked him and Dallas just gave him a small smile.

"Today, is Buck around" Dallas asked Tim and Tim shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know" Tim gave him a small smile and Dally sat down on the bar stool.

"So, I'm guessing you saw Curtis" Tim mentioned and Dally took a sip of his alcohol. "

Yeah I did" Dals just leaned back.

"What happened to him" Dal turned towards Tim because he had an idea that Shepard knew something.

"Curly said after a Buck's party he wasn't the same" Tim now took a sip of his alcohol.

"Wait did Superman and Soda knew he went to one of Buck's party" Dally was confused as hell why Darry would let Pony out of the house.

"I don't know but I always told you that Curly was never aloud to be alone with Buck" Tim once again shrugged his shoulders. Dally felt hands being placed on his shoulders and Dally turned around and there stood Buck.

"Dally you out of the cooler" Buck mentioned to Dally causing Dally to roll his eyes.

"Where's Pony" Buck asked Dally causing Dally to zoom in on him and Tim rolling his eyes.

"He's not coming back to this place Buck just stop asking people about Curtis" Tim snapped at him and Buck walked away. Tim huffed and Dally turned towards him crossing his arms around him.

"What happened between Buck and Pony" Dally wanted to know and if anybody knew it would be the Shepherds.

"I don't know all I know is that Buck did something to Curtis, he never comes by here anymore. He doesn't even want to be near the building ever" Tim admitted to Dally and Dally got up and said bye to Tim before rushing back over to the Curtis. He stormed into the Curtis household to see that Soda wasn't there and Darry was out at the store probably.

Dally barged into Pony's room and saw Pony sitting on his bed while smoking. Dally grabbed the cigarette and putting it out. Pony glared at him.

"What the hell happened between you and Buck" Dally screamed at Pony. Pony looked at the ground. Pony was hurting a lot because of what Buck did to him but he knew if he told someone it would hurt less. Pony was thinking while looking at Dally. Buck was Dally's boss, would Dally even believe him that was what was going on little Pony's head. Pony went back sitting on his bed and Dally sat next to him.

"You won't believe me" Pony mumbled out loud to Dally and Dally shook his head.

"Well I won't believe Buck now will I? I don't believe anyone who listen to Hank Williams actually" Dally crossed his arms and Pony looked up at Dally and opened his mouth.

"He touched me" Pony said to Dally and Dally eyes went wide and shook his head and started pacing back and forth.

"I am going to kill him" Dally growled out and Pony shook his head.

"Did he go all the way" Dally faced Pony while Pony suddenly found interest in his bed sheets and partially the ground. Dally knew the answer right then.

"Please don't tell Darry or Soda. I wasn't even supposed to go that party" Pony begged Dally.


	4. Chapter 4: The Truth

Dallas just simply looked at Pony and shook his head. "I can't keep something from Superman and Soda and you know that Pony" Dally stood up from where he was kneeling.

"They going to hate me" Pony complained while staring at the ceiling.

"Superman will kill me if I don't tell him" Dally shook his head.

"Pony it will be better if you tell Soda and Superman rather it coming from me." Dally patted Pony's head before walking out of Pony's room. Two-bit was just staring at Dally and Dally just stared at Two-bit. "Were you listening in" Dallas had his arms across his chest. Two-bit just nodded at Dallas.

"Okay here's what going to happen tomorrow. I'm going over to Buck's and I swear if Pony doesn't tell Darry or Soda what happened, you tell me and you and me will expose the secret" Dallas stated while going over to the couch to sleep. It was late and had been a long day. Two-bit didn't say anything and just went to Pony's room and he put a blanket over Pony who was sound asleep. Two-bit felt extremely bad for Pony to have lost his innocence that way seems pretty crappy.

The Next morning, Darry and Soda saw that Dally wasn't around but Two-bit was drinking some beer while eating a piece of chocolate cake. Dally was going to Buck's even though it was early, just thinking about Buck made Dally more pissed off than anyone can imagine. Dally was going to give good old Buck a piece of his mind whether he liked it or not. Dally marched into Buck's place and he found Buck drinking a beer and Dallas glared at him.

"Oh hey Dally" Buck greeted him and Dally ignored him.

"So where's Pony," Buck asked Dally and that happened to be the last straw for Dally. Dally pushed Buck into the wall and growled at him.

"DON'T EVEN MENTION HIS NAME" Dally screeched out.

"Get off me, I could fire you" Buck tried to push Dally but Dally didn't care about his job all he cared in that moment was making Buck pay for what he did to Pony. Dally punched Buck causing him to fall to the ground and Dally was about to kick him when someone pulled him away.

"Don't ever come near Ponyboy ever again got it" Dally screeched at Buck and Buck just stared at Dally was looking down to see a tooth was missing from his mouth and it was bleeding. Dally was good at packing a punch to his enemies and in that Buck realized that he was now Dally enemy. It was not good to get on Dally bad side.

Dally spat on Buck while being pulled away and he finally got free. He turned and there stood Tim and he was crossing his arms.

"What the hell you did that for" Dally was now glaring at Tim in annoyance.

"I'm trying to save your job" Tim now looked annoyed.

"I didn't even want to work for him anymore, not after what he did to Pony" Dally now sat on the curb and Tim sat down next to him handing him a cigarette.

"What happened" Tim lit his cigarette while looking at Dally.

"He raped Pony" Dally blew the smoke out and Tim eyes were wide open which was surprising.

"Pony told me" Dally continued and looked at Tim.

"Nobody messes with Ponyboy, he was Johnny's best friend" Dally continued to look at the ground.

"I don't want him to turn hard and this might do that" Dally sighed before blowing out smoke once again.

"Johnny wanted Pony to stay gold" Dally sighed while shaking his head.

"That's impossible considering we live in Tulsa Oklahoma" Tim spoke for a while.

"So you were going to kill Buck huh" Tim looked at Dallas with a blank stare and it was hard for most people to understand what was going on with Tim. Tim covered up his emotion just like Dallas does maybe that's why the two of them became close friends like they would ever admit to that.

"I got to go" Dally walked back to the Curtis's and when he did it was so quiet the TV wasn't on even though Two-bit was there. Dally looked over at the kitchen, he saw Soda, Darry and Pony. Pony kept refusing to eat and it was worrying Sodapop. Dally looked towards Two-bit and Two-bit shook his head.

"He hasn't been eating in forever I'm guessing it's because of Buck" Two-bit shrugged his shoulders while Dally and Two-bit continued to watch Pony looking down at his food. Dallas knew that Pony didn't mention what Buck did to him. Dally sighed to himself before walking into the kitchen and he looked at Pony and Pony just stared back at him. Darry may have been Pony's brother and probably wanted revenge when he'll figure out what happened to Pony but Dally was the protector in the group. He would be willing to go to jail in order to protect the gang whether that was smart or not, nobody knows but Darry was protective too but in his own way. In a way that does not make Darry go to jail.

"He was raped" Dally stated while taking out a lighter. It was too intense in that room. Dally looked at Pony's face. Soda dropped his piece of cake and Darry took a seat in front of Pony. Darry's eyes were soft and anyone could see the worry building up inside of him.

"Pony who raped you," Darry asked in a soft spoken voice and Steve walked in at that moment. It was quiet nobody said anything and it was getting beyond awkward as what. Steve looked at Two-bit and Two-bit shook his head. Pony finally spoke up,

"It was my fault" Pony whispered and Darry shook his head.

"It's not your fault" Soda touched Pony on his shoulder causing Pony to flinch. Soda looked hurt and Steve was about to comfort him when Two-bit stopped him.

"It's not the time Steve" Two-bit stated seriously.

"I went to one of Buck's party and you warned me not to go there ever" Pony looked at his hands and Pony looked up and tears fell down his cheeks and Soda and Pony went into Pony's room.

"Who was it" Darry went back to his husky voice and Dally took a sip of his beer before speaking.

"It was Buck" Steve looked confused as what.

"Don't worry Superman I took care of it," Dally told him and Darry sighed before grabbing his jacket and left the house.

"Pony was raped by Buck" Two-bit finally told Steve and Steve couldn't help but get angry. Even though, Steve thought that Pony was a tag along and a little bit of a brat doesn't mean that Steve would want his virginity to be taken away from him.


	5. Chapter 5: Dealing With the Aftermath

Pony was in his room just sitting on his bed while shaking his head. Pony couldn't keep the tears slipping from his eyes. Pony didn't know why he was crying at all to be honest. He didn't cry when Johnny died. Pony looked over the trash can and rushed to it tossing the trash can upside down in an attempt to find Johnny's letter. Pony couldn't find it and Pony felt like he was dying and he was in a panic mode.

Finally, Pony was leaning against his bedroom wall sighing and breathing heavily and somebody sat down next to Pony without saying anything.

"So what in the hell was Johnny talking about sunsets" The person said to Pony and Pony looked up to see Dally sitting next to him. Dally gave Pony the letter that Johnny wrote for him.

"I had a feeling that Superman would have thrown it out the trash and since it was in the trash, it would have somehow get thrown out" Dally shrugged his shoulders and Pony straightened out the letter. It was silent for a few moments when Dally got up from Pony's bedroom floor.

"Come on let's go" Dally told Pony and Pony looked at Dally confused.

"If Johnny wanted us to watch a sunset, I think we owe it to him" Dally commented once again while taking out a cigarette and started smoking. Pony was following Dally and Darry and Soda were both at work.

"Where you off to" Two-bit raised an eyebrow at both Dally and Pony.

"None of your business Two-bit" Dally told Two-bit which caused Two-bit to frown.

"We going to watch a sunset. Did you want to tag along" Pony was looking down at his feet.

"Sure" Two-bit hopped off the couch with excitement. Two-bit even put down his beer and turned off the TV. Dally, Pony and Two-bit sat on the back porch watching the sunset and Pony was relaxed and for the first time since the whole event happened Pony felt safe and content.

Pony even heard Johnny's voice, _Stay gold Pony._ Pony held a smile on his face and Dally looked over at Pony and Dally didn't really show it but Two-bit could tell that one Pony was going to be okay and two that Dally was happy that Pony was happy.

Two-bit and Dally was going to make sure Pony was not going to be Dally because one Dally was enough. Everybody knew that when they lost Johnny that they were going to lose someone who can listen and understand you but they knew that Pony would always listen to you and that he would understand anybody maybe except for Buck but Pony understood socs.

That's what the gang need, not another cold hearted person like Dally. Pony leaned his head against Dally and Dally would have told Pony to get his head off him but he couldn't do that to Pony. Pony was Johnny's best friend and Pony didn't need Dally being harsh to him now and plus Darry would kill him for being rude.

When Two-bit saw that Dally didn't snap at Pony, Two-bit knew right then that Pony would become someone else that Dally would care about and caring about Pony would be the only thing Dally could care about just like Johnny. It was the truth that the only thing Dally cared about was Johnny and when Johnny died it caused Dally to become self-destructive everybody in the gang knew that because everybody had their breaking points. Dally's was Johnny, Two-bit was his family, Darry was Soda and Pony, Steve was well Soda because if Soda died Steve would have so much more hatred of the world, Soda was Steve and his family and Pony well, it hard to describe what his breaking point some of the gang thought that Johnny was his breaking point but Pony haven't even remotely lost it. Pony was his virginity but that was for everybody someone forcibly taking your virginity no matter how many times you said no.

"Pony" Dally nudged Pony but Pony didn't say anything and Dally could feel how cold Pony was.

"We should go back inside" Dally nudged Pony once more.

"Just a couple more moments" Pony told Dally and Two-bit raised an eyebrow and Dally just faced forward but not before taking off his jacket and he placed it on Pony and Dally was glaring at Two-bit to keep his mouth opened.

"Thanks Dally" Pony said to Dally so quietly that Dally almost missed it. Two-bit sighed and just watched the sky.

Two-bit had to admit that the sunset was breathtaking now he could see why Pony was in love with watching sunsets. He could see now why Johnny and Pony actually got along and why Johnny's death was the breaking point for Dallas Winston. Dally thought of Johnny as family but anyone with eyes even Two-bit could see that Dally started to that Johnny wasn't his only family but rather the whole entire gang. Dally looked down at his shoulder and he saw that Pony was asleep and Dally looked at Two-bit.

"He's asleep, we should take back inside" Dally suggested to Two-bit and Two-bit nodded. Dally couldn't carry Pony even though he looked as skinny as he was when Johnny and Pony were in the church.

Two-bit lifted Pony up off the back porch and carried him inside and that's when Steve and Soda came in laughing their heads off. Soda instantly stopped laughing.

"Is he okay" Soda went to check on his little brother.

"He's fine" Dally spoke out and that was all Dally wanted to say. Dally would never confess to the fact that he actually watched a sunset nor would he admit that he enjoyed it. Dally only did it for Johnny obviously because he would do anything to make Johnny get the message.

Two-bit came out of Pony's bedroom and Dally didn't even ask if he could have his jacket back. Everybody was asleep that night and Dally was getting ready to use the bathroom when he heard sniffling, he opened Pony's bedroom.

"Pony" Dally called out and Dally turned on his light. "How could Johnny think that they are still good in this world" Pony asked Dally and Dally didn't say anything, Dally was the wrong person to ask this question but Dally sat on Pony's bed.

"Because, Johnny had hope and you do too" Dally awkwardly patted Pony's shoulder.

"I have no hope" Pony had his knees against his chest.

"Why don't I feel better after I stated the truth" Pony asked Dally and Dally sighed while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Because you not in denial anymore and now you have to deal with it" Dally stated to Pony. While Pony and Dally was having this conversation, Soda and Darry was listening in both held a smile on their faces.

"I was raped" Pony stated while tears came down his face and that was the first time that Pony used the r word. Dally brought in Pony into a hug and even now Steve was outside the wall.

You could see how pissed Steve was. How could Buck ruin Pony that was the question that was in Steve's head. He wanted to get revenge for Pony.


	6. Chapter 6: Confronting the Rumors

It was the next morning and everybody wanted to let Pony sleep in since he kept waking up every hour or so but the gang had come up with a schedule, Dally was first shift, then it was Soda, third was Darry, even Two-bit chipped in when he could but Steve couldn't. Nobody knew why Steve couldn't for the life stand emotions. Dally could tolerate emotions but Steve on the other hand couldn't maybe that's why he's pissed off at Buck because what Buck did to Pony ruined Pony and Pony was crying awfully lot and coming from Steve that meant something. Ever since the whole punching Buck, Dally was forced to stay with the Curtis brothers which to be honest he didn't mind at all. To Dally, it was better than staying at Buck because Buck loved to play Hank Williams which none of the gang couldn't tolerate. "

Morning Superman" Dally greeted Darry and Darry gave him a half smile.

"Where's Sodapop" Steve asked while busting into the Curtis's.

"He should be down soon considering you both need to go to work" Darry stated while drinking his cup of coffee. Darry, Steve and Dally heard soft footsteps and they turned around and there stood Pony. Pony looked worn out, tired and at the same time Dally wanted to hug Pony but Dally don't do hugs.

"Pony, I thought you were sleeping" Darry asked Pony and Pony just shrugged his shoulders and in that moment, Pony ran into Darry's arms hugging him tight. Darry just hugged back confused though because the last time they hugged each other was when Darry was 13.

"Can I go out" Pony asked Darry and Darry opened his mouth then closed. He didn't want Pony out where Buck could hurt him more. Soda came out of the room with his DX uniform.

"I can't stay here and Dally will come with me" Pony pleaded to his older brother and Darry looked at Dally and Dally shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah why not, it's not like I was doing anything today" Dally gave his signature smile.

"Are you sure Dally" Soda asked Dally and Dally once again shrugged his shoulders.

"I mean Pony could wait till me or Darry gets home" Soda suggested.

"But you'll be too tired" Pony mumbled and Dally wrapped his arm around Pony.

"Yeah come on Pony get ready" Dally told Pony and Pony rushed to his bedroom to get ready.

"Thanks Dally" Soda rubbed the back of the neck.

"No need to thank me" Dally waved off Soda. Steve was so in his head that he didn't even notice Soda throwing a shoe at his head.

"STEVE" Soda screamed at his best friend since grade school.

"We need to do something about Buck" Steve finally stated to everyone in the room and at this point, Two-bit just walked in.

"And what do you think we should huh Steve" Dally asked Steve while leaning his back against the wall.

"It's not like we can have a rumble" Dally pointed out to Steve.

"I don't know something about what he did to Pony is just pissing me off. He's going to get away with it" Steve sighed and Soda looked at best friend with worry.

"It's not we can go out and kill Buck" Soda crossed his arms.

"Why not" Steve asked everyone in the room.

"Nobody would care if Buck was dead in the first place" Steve answered the question.

Dally lit a joint in the living room before responding, "He does have a point nobody would care, I know the police wouldn't" Dally smirked.

Pony came out of the room.

"Ready to go" Dally asked Pony and Pony just nodded.

"Two-bit you want to tag along" Pony asked Two-bit and Two-bit felt happy that Pony stopped calling him Keith. Two-bit didn't hate his name it was simply Two-bit was a better name for him and Two-bit knew that.

"Yeah sure" Two-bit grabbed his jacket. Pony didn't know where he wanted to go all he knew was that he tired of being cooped up inside of the house. He was still somewhat terrified of running or seeing Buck but Pony knew that he couldn't live in fear.

"We going to stop by the shepherds. It turns out that Tim Shepherd owes me money" Dally told Two-bit and Pony. Pony nodded along, he wouldn't mind seeing Curly. It had to be at least a week since everything in Pony's life was slowly being put back together. It was a silent walk until Pony saw Buck and Pony. Two-bit followed Pony's gaze.

"I can't do this" Pony turned towards Two-bit with a shaky voice. "I should have known he was going to be walk in public.

"Hey listen to me, Pony, you have nothing to fear me and Dals have your back" Two-bit placed his hands on Pony's shoulders. Pony just nodded and Two-bit told Dally that Pony was having a slight panic attack from seeing Buck. Dals wanted to pound Buck's face in but he hold it together for the sake of Pony.

"Come on Pony we almost at the shepherds." Dally made sure that Pony was in the middle of both Two-bit and himself. They got to the shepherds and Curly and Tim was with their gang on the front porch of the house.

"Dallas" Tim greeted his frenemy and Dally did the same.

"Pony" Curly called out to Pony and Pony followed Curly into the house. Pony was sitting on Curly's bed. It was beyond awkward but Curly was better at exposing emotions and comforting compared to Tim.

"Are you okay, I heard about what Buck did to you" Curly asked Pony and Pony just looked down at the ground.

"How did you find out" Pony asked Curly and Curly shook his head.

"Tell me" Pony once again demanded answers.

"Buck, he's bragging about it" Curly rubbed the back of his neck. Pony put his head in his hands with their tears in his eyes.

Meanwhile:

Tim and Dally was talking adamantly.

"Dallas everybody knows what Buck did to Pony but I swear I didn't tell anyone" Tim was beyond nervous because even Tim knew that Dally would do anything to protect Pony now.

"How could people know" Dally growled at Tim.

"Curly found out from Buck. I guess Buck's been bragging about it" Tim shrugged his shoulders.

"That's it I'm going to kill that" Dally started cussing up a storm. Pony walked into the room, he spotted Two-bit.

"Can we please go" Pony asked Two-bit and Two-bit got Dally and they all walked back to the Curtis residence.


	7. Chapter 7: Seeing Johnny

As soon as Two-bit, Pony and Dally, went back to the Curtis home, Pony locked himself in his room. Two-bit and Dally was definitely lost and had no idea what to do. Two-bit wasn't exactly good at being serious and Dally never showed emotions and Dally would never admit it but he didn't know Pony as much as he knew Johnny. Just because Pony was Johnny's best friend and a part of the gang, didn't mean that Dally thought about the youngest member in his gang unless it had something to do with Johnny.

"What do we do" Two-bit asked Dally and Dally shrugged his shoulders in response.

"I have no idea" Dally sat on the couch.

"We can't just stand around and do nothing" Two-bit exclaimed to Dally and once again Dally shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't do emotions, you know that Two-bit" Dally stated to Two-bit and Two-bit was about to say something but he knew that if he said what was coming to his head, he would definitely get a beaten up.

Two-bit rolled his eyes at Dally and decided to go to Pony's room. Two-bit didn't know exactly what he was going to say to the youngest, smartest gang member. Pony couldn't actually lock himself in the room, there was no locks on the bedroom doors in the Curtis house. Two-bit opened the door slowly, the sight he saw was Pony sitting at his desk holding a letter. Two-bit peered over Pony's shoulder, curiosity was peaking in him. He saw Johnny's handwriting. Pony sighed while looking down at his hands.

"Pony" Two-bit said to Pony and Pony turned around to see Two-bit there in his room.

"Are you okay" Two-bit asked while he looked extremely uncomfortable.

"I'm fine, Two-bit you don't need to check on me" Pony commented to Two-bit and Two-bit just stared at Pony.

"You must miss him huh" Two-bit said while sitting on the corner of Pony's desk.

Pony just sighed, "he was my best friend Two-bit" Pony commented to Two-bit. "Come on" Two-bit nudged Pony out of the seat. Pony just stared at Two-bit.

"You going to visit Johnny" Two-bit pushed Pony out of his room.

"Okay Two-bit stop pushing me" Pony commanded Two-bit with a glare on his face. Two-bit just gave Pony his signature smile and somehow that made Pony smile because Two-bit could make anyone smile or make someone laugh. Pony and Two-bit walked passed Dally who was a just drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. "Where you guys going" Dally asked both Two-bit and Dally.

"Just tell Darry and Soda, we be back" Two-bit stated to Dally. Two-bit didn't want to tell Dally that they were visiting Johnny because Two-bit knew that Dally would come in a instant. Two-bit wanted Pony to have his time alone with Johnny.

"Okay fine" Dally shrugged his shoulders. Two-bit and Pony walked out of the door. Two-bit was pretty close to Pony and Pony appreciated the gesture. It took them ten minutes to get to where Johnny was buried. Two-bit just stood back and Pony looked at Two-bit.

"You not coming" Pony asked Two-bit and Two-bit just shook his head.

"This is your time with Johnny and I already visited Johnny" Two-bit urged Pony and Pony just sat down on the grass with Johnny headstone. It was amazing, when Johnny died, the kids that Pony and Johnny rescued parents paid for Johnny's funeral, even buying a headstone.

"Hey Johnny" Pony messed with the grass.

"I miss you but I'm pretty sure you already know that . I bet heaven is amazing. Get this Dally actually saw a sunset with me" Pony informed Johnny and he heard the soft spoken voice that Johnny had.

"Yeah, heaven is amazing. Your parents say hi" Johnny spoke out and soon enough there stood Johnny in front of Pony. Johnny looked pretty amazing, his burns weren't there, he had a smile on his face.

"Johnny" Pony stood up from the ground and Johnny smiled hugely at Pony. Pony was just staring at Johnny shock was written all over his face.

"Come on Pony, you act like you never seen a ghost" Johnny commented to Pony. Both Johnny and Pony went back sitting on the grass right in front of Johnny's grave.

"Pony don't let what happened to you define you" Johnny advised his best friend.

"If you do then you'll let Buck win" Johnny continued to gave Pony advice.

"I wish you were here nobody understands me as much as you do" Pony sighed while messing with a piece of the grass.

"Ponyboy, they trying to help you. They doing their best" Johnny told Pony and Pony just nodded.

"I know that" Pony said to Johnny.

"I've been keeping an eye out on the gang from up there" Johnny said to Pony while staring at his own grave.

"It's hard to feel decent. I can't look at myself in the mirror without breaking down. Who am I supposed to talk to about this with huh. Dally and Steve can't deal with emotions, Darry is too busy working, Soda is a worry wart and even Two-bit can't stand anything serious" Pony rambled on to Johnny and Johnny shook his head.

"Talk to somebody, you'll be amazed on how much people can relate to what you going through" Johnny put his hand on Pony's shoulder.

"Remember what I said in my letter Pony, stay gold" Johnny said to Pony while his hand still was on Pony's shoulder.

"What if I can't" Pony posed the question to Johnny.

"You can I believe in you and if you ever need to talk to somebody, I'm always there for you" Johnny stood up from the grass and so did Pony. Pony stood there just staring at Johnny. Johnny hugged Pony tight while he started to fade away.

"Pony, you'll be okay I promise. Tell the guys I say hi and how much I miss them" Those words was the last set of words out of Johnny's mouth. Johnny waved bye to his best friend and Pony sadly waved back at his dead best friend.

Two-bit and Pony both headed back to the Curtis but it was different this time because Pony felt hope that wasn't there before seeing Johnny.

"So, you saw Johnny" Two-bit nudged Pony and Pony stared at Two-bit.

"What you think Johnny only visited you" Two-bit shrugged his shoulders. Johnny helped Two-bit get out of his dangerous habit of drinking away his life. Of course, Two-bit wasn't going to cut out drinking entirely but he did decrease his drinking.


	8. Chapter 8: Back to School

Pony had to go to school eventually but for some reason he was scared even though the talk with Johnny did help ease him. Maybe Pony will never be the same fully but Pony is still the boy who loves sunset and understand that it's tough all over not just for the greasers but socs as well. Pony had been ditching for a while now and there was no way he could get his grades back up. He definitely felt bad about the whole grades thing because Darry was depending on him making to college. Ponyboy was actually getting ready to go to school when he heard a knock on his door and he turned around and there stood Steve Randle. He was leaning against Ponyboy's doorframe.

"Steve what are you doing here" Pony asked Steve and Steve rubbed the back of his neck.

"Soda already left for DX" Pony informed Steve. Steve sat down on the bed and patted the seat next to him. Steve sighed but he had to help Pony somehow and this was the only way he could do that.

"Steve you freaking me out" Pony commented to Steve.

"You know I don't hate you right" Steve told Pony and Pony just nodded. It was true ever since Johnny death, Ponyboy realized Steve couldn't hate him because he was a part of the gang and Soda's younger brother.

"When I heard what happened to you I wanted to kill Buck" Steve confessed to the youngest member of the gang.

"Yeah, I know a lot of people wanted to kill Buck" Pony fiddled with his hands.

"Look Pony, I'm not good at expressing emotions but I figure if I say this then maybe you won't feel alone as much" Steve stated to Pony and Pony just stared at Steve.

"I was raped" Steve stated not staring at Pony but at the front.

"Does Soda know" Pony couldn't help but asked Steve.

"No, only Johnny knew" Steve confessed to Pony.

"oh, so that's what Johnny meant that I never know who might comfort me" Pony mumbled to himself.

"Who was it" Pony now was asking Steve questions.

"First off the only reason why Johnny knew was because I was drunk enough to let out the secret. Second of all, it doesn't matter who it was. The only reason I'm telling you this is to tell you not become me" Steve said white getting up from the bed and was leaving.

"Come on, I'm taking you to school" Steve said and Pony had no choice but to follow Steve to his car. Pony sighed while Steve dropped him off at the school building. Pony stared at the school building and began to enter it while holding onto his backpack. Ponyboy was trying to put on his tough façade but it was hard because now it was down.

"You can do it" Steve yelled from his window and Ponyboy couldn't help but roll his eyes at that comment. Ponyboy also felt somewhat embarrassed about what just happened. Ponyboy walked into the school a lot of people made space for Pony to walk down the school hallway. Ponyboy wanted to talk to Cherry and Randy. He knew he needed to apologize to Randy for being so cruel.

He made fun of Bob's death to Randy and he told Cherry it was her fault that Bob was dead. Pony held onto his backpack before slowly walking towards Cherry locker. He found Randy there talking to her. Cherry had on her cheerleading outfit.

"Hi" Pony greeted the two socs.

"Ponyboy what do you want" Randy snapped at Pony.

"I need to apologize to you both about what I said about Bob. Bob shouldn't have died and I know that you both blame yourselves for it" Pony was looking down at the ground.

"What happened to you Ponyboy. You turned into one Dallas Winston" Cherry crossed her arms and Pony just looked around, a lot of socs were getting ready to jump him if Randy told them to.

"I was dealing with some stuff" Pony told them with a sheepish look on his face.

"That's all we get Ponyboy, I thought we could be decent and then you turned cold and harsh" Randy scolded Ponyboy and Ponyboy slid down a set of lockers. Cherry sat down next to Pony on the left side and Cherry gave a look towards Randy signally that he get rid of the other socs.

"Why don't you guys go away" Randy waved off the other boys. The boys just nodded and left. It seemed that Randy was now in charge of the socs. Randy sat next to Ponyboy on his right.

"My best friend died, Dally was in jail and my family was about to be split up and not to mention my brother Darry couldn't get along for the longest time. I think I had a right to be cold" Ponyboy said to the both socs.

"Last time I check I don't owe you anything" Ponyboy exclaimed to both of them.

"You ignored me Cherry for months" Ponyboy crossed his arms.

"We heard the rumors that you're gay" Randy pointed out to Ponyboy and Ponyboy face got pale. "That's not true" Ponyboy exclaimed.

"I am not gay. Why would you assume that" Ponyboy shouted at Randy and Randy put his hands up in defense.

"It just that many people talks about you and this guy having sex. All the greasers are talking about it" Cherry informed Ponyboy.

"I was raped" Ponyboy shouted at the two socs. Cherry's face went down and she covered her mouth in shock and Randy looked at Ponyboy to see if it was a joke but Randy knew it wasn't a joke judging by the way Cherry was acting.

"Ponyboy" Cherry grabbed Pony's shoulder trying to comfort him.

"My world is ruined. I can't even go around my own neighborhood with people thinking I slept with a guy" Pony sighed while he punched the wall multiple times.

"Who was it" Randy exclaimed because Randy wanted to know.

"Don't bother, the police don't care about any greaser" Pony was starting to walk away.

"Tell us what we can do to help you" Cherry asked Ponyboy.

 **So now Randy and Cherry knows what happened to Ponyboy. What do you think Randy and Cherry will do to help Ponyboy. what do you think of the fact the socs think that Ponyboy is gay because of Buck.**


	9. Chapter 9: Who is Randy Anderson

Randy and Cherry was just hanging in the lunch room watching Ponyboy walk over to the lunch line grabbing his food and just like that he was gone. All the socs were name calling Pony faggot. Cherry felt disgusted with her group and Randy felt the exact way. Randy had enough and turned to his so called friends.

"That's enough" he shouted at them and just like that Randy's friends stopped talking and continued to eat. Cherry walked outside to find Two-bit and Marcia talking. They looked pretty close some may say, I guess Marcia was a bigger person than Cherry and decided to not care about the feud between the socs and the greasers. Since Randy broke it off with Marcia, Marcia was free to talk to whomever she pleases.

"Pony" Cherry greeted Pony and Pony looked up. He had a black eye and his lip was dripping with blood.

"Are you okay" Cherry asked Pony but Two-bit stopped talking to Marcia.

"He's fine and he doesn't need you to check on him" Two-bit snapped at Cherry. He hated talking to women like that but Cherry didn't care about Ponyboy at all. Marcia just looked down at the ground unlike Cherry, Marcia generally felt bad about Johnny and Dally's deaths. Marcia even visited Johnny to apologize for Randy's actions and so did Randy. I mean Randy was forced to by his father.

"Okay" Cherry walked away from Marcia, Pony and Two-bit. Cherry got the hint that she wasn't wanted there. Ponyboy felt like a third wheel and decided to head back to class.

"I'll see you later Two-bit" Pony told his friend and Two-bit just nodded along. Pony walked back into the school building and headed towards his locker.

"Pony" Randy called out to Ponyboy and Ponyboy just shook his head. "Pony, wait. I can help you" Randy told Pony and Pony just stared at Randy.

"How can you help me huh" Ponyboy folded his arms. "There's nothing you can do for me. This will always follow me around for the rest of my life Randy. I don't want to talk about this anymore" Ponyboy pushed Randy out of his way. Randy sighed while going to his own class.

Later that night:

Randy was hanging out in his room, doing his homework when he knocked on his father's office door. Randy wanted no needed to talk to his father.

"Come in Randy" Mr. Anderson said while Randy sat down in front of his father's desk. Mr. Anderson was currently on the phone with one of his clients. Randy kept looking around his father's office.

"What is it son" Mr. Anderson asked while his arms folded along his chest.

"I need your help" Randy rubbed the back of his neck.

"What is it, I was getting ready to head out" Mr. Anderson stared at his son.

"You know that boy Ponyboy Curtis" Randy said to his father.

"The boy who you and Bob made his life terrible" Mr. Anderson raised an eyebrow up.

"Yeah, he's in trouble and since you're a lawyer maybe you could help him out" Randy gave his father a sly smile.

"Sorry, I am not fixing your mistake" Mr. Anderson got ready to grab his coat.

"Dad, he gets tormented more because people thinks he's gay but he's not dad. He was raped by someone. You know how it feels to be someone you're not" Randy was practically begging his dad for help.

Mr. Anderson faced his son, "does he want to press charges" Mr. Anderson questioned Randy.

"No because he thinks the police won't care about a greaser. Dad I need to help him. I'm at fault for his best friend's death" Randy faced his dad.

"Okay, get him to admit he wants to press charges and then we'll deal with it then" Mr. Anderson told his son and Randy smiled.

"Dad, you have to do it for free. Ponyboy and the Curtis's don't have money" Randy reminded his dad.

"Enjoy your evening with your 'friend' Aaron" Randy winked at his dad.

"Don't forget to call your mother" Mr. Anderson stated to his son before walking out to hang out with his friend. Randy felt happy, he was on his way to redemption. He knew he should be upset with the fact that Marcia is hanging out with a greaser but ever since Bob's death Randy didn't care about those things anymore.

What Randy said to Ponyboy about fighting was pointless and stupid, he meant it. He knew that Ponyboy wasn't like his other greaser friends. There was always the odd one out in groups such as greasers and socs. Randy couldn't help but wonder who was the odd one out in the socs, maybe it was Marcia maybe it was him. All he knew is that Cherry wasn't the odd one out. It couldn't be. Randy dialed the hospital that his mother was in.

"Hey mom" Randy greeted his mother. Not anybody knew about his mother being in a mental hospital, Bob didn't know, Marcia didn't know. Nobody knew and that was the way Randy liked to keep it. Randy Anderson life was like a soap opera. His mother is in a mental hospital, his dad is a secret closet gay who pretends him and Aaron are just friends. Randy and his mom didn't really have anything to say.

The next day was Saturday, which Ponyboy and Randy were glad about it.

Randy decided he was going to talk to Ponyboy today but it made Randy nervous, the thought that he would run into Dallas Winston. So here he was, he knocked on the door of the Curtis. He got the address from Marcia. The door opened and there stood Darry Curtis aka superman.

"How can I help you Randy" Darry asked Randy.

"I came to talk to Ponyboy if that's fine with him" Randy looked down at his feet nervously. Darry Curtis was a scary guy, he had the muscles but now Dally appeared at the door while holding an intimidating glare.


	10. Chapter 10:Death

"A soc actually showing up here. You have some nerve" Dally stated to Randy harshly and Darry shook his head in response to Dally attitude.

"Why don't you come on in Randy" Darry opened the door wider. Randy took a seat on the couch seeing all of Pony's gang. Randy saw Two-bit, Steve, Soda, Dally and Darry but no Pony.

"Before we get Pony, we want to know what you planning on talking with Pony about" Darry folded his arms across his chest.

"I can help Pony get justice for what happened to him" Randy rubbed the back of his neck.

"How" Dally wanted answers.

"My dad is a lawyer and if Pony would want to press charges, my dad would defend Pony" Randy was fiddling with his hands. Being in a room full of greasers made Randy anxious to a bit.

"How much would that cost" Darry asked Randy.

"My dad doesn't need money" Randy said to everybody in the group.

"I have to make up for my mistake, it's my fault that Johnny is dead" Randy confessed and Two-bit was the first one to break the silence.

"First of all it's not entirely your fault" Two-bit shrugged his shoulders and Randy slowly felt more comfortable.

"Are you going to stay for dinner" Sodapop now asked Randy and Randy looked around the house.

"I don't want to impose" Randy got up from the couch and was about to leave.

"It's not safe for a soc to be outside on greaser territory" Pony finally came out of his room.

"So you might as well stay" Pony told Randy with a small smile.

"Okay, I'll stay" Randy sat back on the couch when his phone rang. Randy picked it up quickly.

"Hello" Randy greeted the person on the other line.

"Randy, your mom committed suicide today" Mr. Anderson broke the news to Randy.

"Where are you right now" Mr. Anderson asked his son. "I'm with the Curtis's" Randy replied monotone.

"Stay there and Randy, I won't be home till next week" Mr. Anderson told Randy and Randy sighed.

"Okay, I'll see you next week" Randy hung up the phone and Randy just stared at the TV.

"Randy you okay" Pony asked Randy and everybody turned towards Randy.

"my mom is dead" Randy whispered the words out and only Ponyboy could hear it.

"I'm sorry Randy" Ponyboy apologized to Randy but Pony didn't want to say those cliché words that he heard when his parents died.

"I shouldn't be surprised. How many times does it take to kill yourself? For my mom it took her about 10 times" Randy spoke out loud and Randy looked up at everybody in shock.

"I never told anyone that" Randy said those exact words that Cherry once stated to Ponyboy.

"Your mom committed suicide" Dally finally said something to Randy.

"Yup but I mean she's been in the mental hospital my whole entire childhood. It wasn't a shock to me" Randy shrugged his shoulders acting like it was no big deal but to Ponyboy it seemed that Randy was still in denial because he was lacking emotions.

"So Darry dinner" Sodapop suggested to try to bring the tension down. Darry just nodded and hopped into the kitchen. Ponyboy made Randy come outside on the back porch. Randy sat next to Ponyboy.

"I heard what you said about your dad being able to help me" Pony brought up to Randy and Randy just stared at Pony.

"Yeah" Randy nodded. "Thanks" Pony smiled at Randy.

"And it's okay to be upset over your mom's death" Pony advised Randy.

"Thanks kid but I hardly knew her except she was passionate about killing herself" Randy just stared in front of him and Pony opened his mouth but then closed it. "Randy" Ponyboy wanted to say something.

"I guess it is rough all over" Ponyboy told Randy and Randy gave Pony a smile.

"Yeah still think us socs have everything" Randy nudged Ponyboy.

"You know Cherry told me that you guys think you to cool to show emotions but you guys do have emotions" Pony said to Randy.

"Yeah I know" Randy replied to Ponyboy.

"You Randy Anderson is different" Pony said before facing the front to see the sunset going down.

"I never seen a sunset ever" Randy whispered.

"I've always been too busy to see one" Randy continued to speak and Pony smiled,

"Come dinner should be ready" Pony told Randy urging him to get up.

"Ponyboy" Randy called out to Pony and Pony turned around.

"Yeah"

"I just want to say thank you for this" Randy rubbed the back of his neck.

"You helping me Randy, if you help one of us then you can somewhat become one of the gang and if you mess with one of us then it doesn't end well" Pony ranted to Randy and Randy nodded along.

"I wish we had that. The socs, I mean the loyalty at least" Randy commented before walking back inside of the Curtis's residence with Pony following him.

"You and Bob were close to one another weren't you" Ponyboy asked Randy and Randy shook his head.

"Compare to Sodapop and that Steve guy, we had no connection like that" Randy confessed to Ponyboy.

"You okay with Marcia and Two-bit dating" Ponyboy asked Randy and Randy looked around the room.

"It's okay to be honest Randy" Ponyboy put his hand on Randy's shoulder.

"I want Marcia to be happy and if that's with that guy then I'm happy for her" Randy stated to Ponyboy and Two-bit heard the whole thing and come out.

"Wow, you are really cool"


	11. Chapter 11: Tim's Plan

Randy felt that he actually needed to go home but he nervous to do so since he was in the greaser territory.

"Trust me us greasers aren't going around to jump you or anything" Dallas sneered at Randy and Pony nudged Dally and Dally sighed.

"How about if you actually want to go home, I can drive you" Two-bit offered Randy. Two-bit decided he liked Randy ever since he said that he didn't mind that Two-bit was basically in a relationship with Marcia.

"Really you do that for me" Randy looked shocked actually and Two-bit nodded his head and continued to drink his beer.

"You don't have to go home; I mean we have enough space for you" Darry offered to the soc which caused Randy to be even more shocked actually.

"Thanks" Randy rubbed the back of his neck, "but I should go" Two-bit just nodded and decided to get his car keys. Randy told Two-bit where he lived and Two-bit looked shocked at the house.

"So, this is where you live" Two-bit looked around and Randy smiled and nodded.

"Your dad does what" Two-bit asked because he was curious.

"Lawyer" Randy said it blankly acting like it was no big deal.

"Thanks for the ride Two-bit" Randy thanked Two-bit before leaving the car. He put his pass code to unlock the gate and he walked into the house.

Two-bit drove back to the Curtis's with ease actually and when he came in, he heard Dally and Pony arguing. It seemed strange to Two-bit that Pony was speaking up against Dally more often than not. "

Why can't you be nice to Randy" Pony was yelling at Dally and Dally just shook his head.

"Socs are evil Ponyboy" Dally yelled back at Pony. Two-bit sat down next to Soda who was just watching the fight go on and on.

"Socs aren't as bad as Buck" Pony said to Dally.

"They never raped me, they been leaving me alone for quite some time now. You wanna know who I wished was dead Buck. He deserves to die" Pony told Dally and rushed out of the house and Soda was quick to see where his brother went but it was too late, Pony ran and when Pony ran there was no way to catch up to him. Pony kept running while tears fell down his cheeks when he bumped into someone and he looked up.

There stood Tim Shepherd.

"Hey Tim" Pony greeted the leader of the Shepherds gang.

"Hey" Tim greeted Pony back before handing him a cigarette.

"What's got you so upset" Tim asked while sitting on the curb with Ponyboy next to him.

"I was arguing with Dally and I just had to get out of there. I wished Buck was dead" Pony confessed to Tim, Dally's friend.

"Don't we all, nobody even wants to go in that place and ever since Dally quit Buck's business is going down the drain. Nobody wants to go to a place where a minor who was a boy was raped by the owner" Tim nudged Ponyboy and Tim got up from the ground and Tim walked Ponyboy back to his house but not till he stopped to see Johnny's headstone. He needed some advice and Johnny was the only one.

"I do miss you Johnny. I feel all of this rage. I'm no longer sad but angry at Buck for what he did to me. I wished he would just drop dead actually" Pony confessed to Johnny while rubbing his headstone. Pony got up from the ground and he heard Johnny soft spoken voice,

"Stay gold." Ponyboy and Tim walked back to the Curtis. Soda ran and grabbed Pony holding him tight and Pony just put his head on Soda's shoulder.

"I am so sorry. I didn't know it was that bad" Soda apologized to Pony while Tim waved Dally outside.

"I told the kid that Buck's business is going under but Dally, that kid is messed up because of Buck" Tim pointed out to Dally.

"I know that" Dally commented.

"So what are we going to do about it" Tim asked Dally and Dally shrugged his shoulders.

"I know a couple of people who could hurt Buck even more" Tim mentioned to Dally and Dally sighed.

"Ponyboy will be upset if we do anything to Buck" Dally commented to Tim.

"The kid said he wanted Buck dead" Tim pointed out to Dally.

"I know but he wasn't in his right mind and plus this soc wants the kid to go to the police and press charges" Dally informed to Tim and Tim just sneered and shook his head.

"Fine but Dally if something happens to Buck just know that Buck deserved it and he's not getting away with what he did to that kid. I may have no feelings but raping someone is too dang far" Tim walked away while taking out a cigarette. Dally walked back into the house to see that Pony and Soda must of went to their beds and Darry was in the chair he loved so much. "

Dally, what are you and Tim planning" Darry asked Dally while staring at Dally in the face.

"I'm not planning anything but Tim might be but that's all I'm telling you" Dally folded his arms while going to the restroom. Darry sighed but shook his head. He walked to his bedroom and peaked in Ponyboy's room. Pony was now asleep in his bed clutching a teddy bear that was from their parents. Darry smiled to himself and closed Ponyboy's door and Darry walked into his room. He laid down on the bed and turned off the lights.


	12. Chapter 12: Buck's Dead

Ponyboy was in his room reading a book when Soda and Darry burst through the room.

"Um, guys what's up" Pony asked his brothers. Darry sat down next to Pony and Pony was urging them to tell him what's up.

"Buck's dead" Darry just straightforward told Pony.

Pony eyes went wide, "really" Pony asked his two brothers.

"Yeah but the police aren't looking for who killed that son of" Soda started to say.

"SODA" Darry scolded Soda and Soda looked down.

"Sorry" Soda apologized.

"Did Dally have anything to do with it" Pony asked Darry and Soda.

"We don't know who murdered Buck but I mean Pony I thought you would be happy" Soda mentioned to Pony and Pony sighed.

"I mean I should be but I didn't want him dead" Pony confessed to his older brothers.

"Well, Pony there's nothing you could do about it now." Soda comforted Pony and Pony just nodded.

"I have to head to DX with my shift, do you want to go to the movies" Soda nudged Ponyboy and Ponyboy just shook his head no. "Okay, well Darry and I see you later" Soda walked out of Ponyboy's room and Ponyboy heard the truck pull out of the driveway.

Pony walked out of the room to see that Two-bit was watching Mickey Mouse with Marcia. She gave him a soft smile and Pony smiled back at her. Dally was just glaring at nothing in that particular, the hard bitter look was more hard but Dally saw Pony, he let down the hard bitter look.

"Darry and Soda told me that Buck is dead" Pony announced to Dally but Two-bit heard it.

"Did you do it? I mean did you kill Buck" Pony was now looking directly at Dally.

"No, murdering someone is not a part of my rep. I mean I steal and maybe beat up people but I don't kill someone" Dally stated to Pony and Pony actually believed him.

"So what happened" Ponyboy asked Dally because if anybody knew what had actually happened Dally would know.

"Kid, a lot of people heard about what happened to you so maybe someone hated the fact that you were raped and decided to make sure that Buck couldn't do anything to someone else" Dally shrugged his shoulders acting like it was no big deal.

"Come on Pony, you can't be upset over Buck. Good riddance that he's gone" Two-bit smiled and Pony just shook his head. The phone rang and Pony answered it. It was Randy.

"Hey it's Randy" Randy said and Pony just sighed.

"Hi Randy, look about the deal you made you can forget about it" Ponyboy informed Randy.

"Why" Randy asked Pony.

"He's dead, somebody killed him" Ponyboy said and hung up the phone quickly. He didn't want to talk to Randy anymore. Ponyboy didn't have an issue with Randy anymore.

In fact ever since Randy was in charge of the socs, the chaos went away.

"I'm not heartless guys, I want to know who killed him" Ponyboy was now standing in front of Dally with annoyance.

"It's better that you don't know" Dally was now standing up.

"Why because I'm such a baby that can't handle the truth" Ponyboy was now getting angry. You don't want to mess with an angry Curtis it does not end well.

"No because Ponyboy, if somehow the police is involved then you could get called in and we are not involving you because Ponyboy you are loyal as what and you would keep your mouth shut and I will not make you be locked up. I refuse to." Dally ranted to Ponyboy holding his shoulders and Ponyboy sighed.

"But you didn't kill anyone though. You promise" Ponyboy asked Dally and Dally raised an eyebrow.

"Boy if I did, I would be bragging all over town. How successful it is to kill someone who hurt someone from my gang and other gangs would know not to mess with anyone. But I didn't Kid. I swear on Johnny's soul" Dally said to Pony and finally Pony did find himself believing Dally. It was rare that Dally would mention Johnny so Pony had to believe him.

"Okay" Pony said before grabbing some cake. Two-bit and Marcia was still there in the room engrossed with the drama like it was a movie. Two-bit didn't understand where Pony stood but then again Pony wasn't like anyone.

He was going to be more than a greaser and he knew that so if Pony didn't want Buck dead now then it means that Pony had a lot of heart. Pony went back to his room but he saw Two-bit sharing his chocolate cake which was surprising.

Two-bit didn't like to share anything. Ponyboy was conflicted with his feelings.

Was he happy that Buck was dead so now he couldn't bother him or was he angry or sad that Buck was murdered to pieces and no body seem to care that he's gone, the police wasn't going to investigate. Pony thought did he have family that he would be sad, did he have friends. He wasn't going to have a funeral.

That made Ponyboy sad but now he could not get tormented with seeing Buck anymore. He was prepared to fight in court but now he couldn't do that. Ponyboy was more conflicted than anyone could imagine. He knew what Dally was saying that Ponyboy wouldn't tell a soul about what happened if he did know who killed Buck.

The police wouldn't care nobody ever cared about a greaser before. Ponyboy knew that but he also knew that he had to keep up with his promise that Johnny told him. _Stay gold_ which Ponyboy is finding it difficult to do. Ponyboy seemed to get more along with Steve since Steve confessed his darker secret. Nobody seem to know about it. It felt that Ponyboy could try to talk to Steve about this feeling so when Steve and Soda both came to the Curtis. Pony took one look at Steve and Steve waved him outside.

"What's up kid" Steve said while smoking.

"I should be happy that Buck is dead right" Pony questioned to Steve.

"Look kid, maybe you should be happy. If I was you I would be happy but Pony you are different from anybody I know" Steve nudged Pony.

"Yeah I guess" Pony sighed.


	13. Chapter 13: Accusations

Ponyboy was sitting in his bed reading Gone with the Wind once more. Everybody in the gang knew that Pony needed some time to himself and Ponyboy was glad of that. He heard a knock on the door and it was Darry with a plate in his hands. Darry sat down next to Ponyboy on his bed.

"Hey you okay" Darry asked Ponyboy and Pony closed his book and sighed. Pony realized that Darry was not hard and cold but generally worried of him.

"Yeah I should be fine. I just needs to get used to that I can be at rest now" Ponyboy gave Darry a smile a bit.

"Well get some rest, you have to go school tomorrow" Darry patted Pony's shoulders before closing Pony's room. Soda was already passed out in his room.  
Pony turned off the light in his room and turned on his side to fall asleep and he did so in a nice peaceful sleep. The next time Pony woke up, the sun was hitting his face and he groaned but nonetheless got ready for the day.  
Two-bit was out in the living room watching cartoons and eating cake. Ponyboy looked around the room and the only person there was Two-bit.

"Oh, Darry had to go to work and Soda and Steve left early to work at the DX and Dally no clue" Two-Bit answered Pony's unanswered question and Pony just nodded.

"Come on, I'll take you to school" Two-bit announced while turning off the TV and Pony held onto his backpack tightly. He walked out of Two-bit's car and entered the school. He walked to his locker and opened it and pulled his books out of the locker. Shutting it, there Curly was.

"Hey Pony, how are you doing" Curly asked Pony and Pony just shrugged his shoulders.

"So I talked to the other greasers and socs and cleared up the rumor that you are gay" Curly winked at Pony before walking out of the school and Pony sighed but smile a little bit.  
Pony decided to walk to the locker room to talk to the track coach. He needed something to distract and running was always that thing that he needed. He knocked on the coach's office.

"Come in" The coach said and Pony walked in the office

"Ponyboy, what can I do for you" Coach motioned Ponyboy to sit down and Pony did just that.

"I want to be back on the team" Pony told him and Coach sighed while rubbing the back of his neck.

"I can't let you back on the team because Ponyboy you let us down big time and this time need teammates that are committed to this team" Coach said to Ponyboy.

"I get it but please I need this. My year hasn't been good and I just kind of lost myself" Ponyboy was practically begging the coach and the coach sighed.

"Let me talk to your teammates first" Coach told Ponyboy and Ponyboy just nodded before heading to his first class.  
He walked into the classroom and everybody stared at him but he didn't care in that moment. He sat down and took out a his journal that he didn't remember sticking it in his backpack. It was his journal or a essay that he wrote about Johnny and Dally. It was free time and it was Pony's favorite class English. He started writing an essay about his experience. The bell rang and Ponyboy was about to leave the classroom until his teacher stopped him.

"Mr. Curtis" The teacher waved him over to his desk.

"What's going on" Ponyboy asked him while fiddling with his hands.

"It's this essay you just handed in. Everything okay. I mean I heard the rumors" The teacher asked Ponyboy and Ponyboy just nodded.

"i'm fine sir" Ponyboy said to the teacher while still feeling nervous slightly.

"Ponyboy, you are one of the best writer that I had ever had the chance to teach. You could make it to college but I'm afraid that you keep letting things distract you will cause you to fail and that will result in you having to repeat a grade" The teacher informed Ponyboy and Ponyboy just sighed.

"I get it but you do not know what I have been through this year" Ponyboy snapped at his teacher.

"Then talk to me, I can't make exceptions without knowing what is going on at home" The teacher put his hand on Ponyboy's shoulder and Ponyboy flinched. His breaving started to get heavy and he ran out of the room and out of the school not caring anymore. He bumped into someone. It was Dally and Dally had a cigarette in his mouth.

"Shouldn't you be in school" Dally asked Pony and Pony sighed and took Dally's cigarette off and Dally instead of getting upset just shrugged his shoulders. Dally rubbed Pony's head in amusement like he once did with Johnny.

"I had to get out of there" Pony exclaimed while leaning on the side of the school building.

"What happened" Dally asked while sipping on his beer.

"I just felt anxious" Pony shrugged his shoulders acting like it was no big deal and it wasn't.

"You know Darry will be angry at you if you don't go back inside" Dally pointed out to Pony and Pony just sighed.

"I know" Pony continued to smoke before handing the cigarette back to Dally and entered back the school building

 _ **After School**_

Pony was walking alone with his head inside of his book when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Pony looked back to see one of his ex teammate, Billy.

"Hey I hear you going to join us back on the track team" Billy exclaimed with a big smile on his face. Billy was not a soc or a greaser but rather in the middle class region. Billy's father was a teacher and his mother was a housewife.

"If you guys let me back on the team" Pony exclaimed with his hands inside of his pockets.

"Of course, we will. You are the best on the team" Billy nudged Pony before rushing to his parents car.

"Trust me Ponyboy, coach will let you back on the team because most of us said we wanted you back" Billy turned around and told Ponyboy with a side smile.  
Ponyboy finally arrived at home and there he saw police officer and Darry was being questioned by another cop. There had to be around four cops in the Curtis's house.

"You must be Ponyboy" The fuzz asked Ponyboy and he nodded.

"What's going on" Ponyboy asked everyone. Steve, Soda, Dally, Two-bit and Darry were all being questioned.

"We here to investigate Buck Merril's death" The fuzz told me and I looked around the room.

"I don't understand why you care about no good greaser. You never did" Dally exclaimed while huffing out.

"Look we are here to talk to you about Buck" The fuzz placed a hand on Pony's shoulder. "We know something happen between you two and from what I heard around the town" The fuzz said and Pony opened his mouth and closed it.

"What do you know" Ponyboy exclaimed to the fuzz.

"We know he raped you and right now we know you are leading suspect" The fuzz told Ponyboy and finally Soda and Darry had enough.

"Do you have any evidence of this claim" Darry said stepping in front of his brother. The fuzz sighed out loud.

"Don't go anywhere" The fuzz all left the Curtis's and Dally kept pacing back and forth in anger. His eyes were blazing red and nobody wanted to go near Dally in this state.

"I'm calling Randy" Ponyboy said while dialing Randy's phone.

"Hello" Randy answered immediately.

"It's me Ponyboy, can you and your father come down. I think I might be in trouble with the fuzz" Ponyboy was freaking out and Randy agreed.  
Nobody was saying anything or eating. For once the Curtis' living room was quiet and nobody was moving even Two-bit wasn't making any jokes at all.

 _ **The doorbell rang,**_

Ponyboy immediately answered it and saw Randy was there was a tall man that looked like him. It was Mr. Anderson talking avidly on the phone. Ponyboy invited them into the room. Mr. Anderson sat down across from everyone in the room.

"Dad this is Ponyboy, that is Soda and Darry his brothers. This is Two-bit and Steve and finally Dally" Randy introduced everybody in the room.

"Two-bit the guy who is dating Marcia. I recognize you guys Steve and Soda, I always take the car into DX" Mr. Anderson smiled.

"Thanks for coming" Ponyboy told Mr. Anderson.

"So they think that you killed Buck because of what he did to you" Mr. Anderson was taking notes on a notepad.

"They just came in and decided to search our house" Darry exclaimed to Mr. Anderson and Mr. Anderson raised an eyebrow.

"Let me guess they didn't have a warrant. I'll talk to them" Mr. Anderson said again.

"Look don't worry about anything. They looking at everyone's records" Mr. Anderson said.

"Why are they looking at my record. I didn't do anything" Ponyboy exclaimed in annoyance.

"Because of Bob's death" Mr. Anderson sighed. "Everybody loved Bob and the fuzz doesn't like greasers" Mr. Anderson sighed but let out a comforting smile.

"So what are we supposed to do now" Dally mumbled out loud.

"Stay out of trouble and Ponyboy you get great grades, you do not disturb anyone and last time I checked you were on sports team. You stand out as a good kid and that will count with the fuzz. They will interview everyone you know that includes teachers and friends and everything" Mr. Anderson stood up from his seat.

"Okay" Mr. Anderson patted Pony's shoulder and gave him a smile.

"If anything here's my number to call if they come back. I see if I can have them return your belongings that they took without the warrant" Mr. Anderson announced to the gang.

"Randy come on" Mr. Anderson told his son. "I have to meet with Aaron."

"I'll be right there" Randy told his father and his father nodded.

"I promise you guys that my father will do everything for you. It would look bad for him not to defend who he used to be" Randy gave out a wink at the group of greasers and left. Leaving the gang shocked and confused.


	14. Chapter 14: Standing up to Cherry

It was still strange that Randy's father was at one point a greaser like Ponyboy and his friends but how did Mr. Anderson get that way was the burning question of the evening. Ponyboy was in his room just reading Gone with the Wind, he wasn't trying to worry about the fact that Buck was dead but he couldn't help but think he deserved it completely right. He heard a knock on the door to see Darry standing there with his hands in his pockets.

"Dinner is ready" Darry told Ponyboy and Ponyboy just nodded his head before putting down Gone with the Wind.

"Darry" Ponyboy said to Darry before hugging him and Darry hugged his little brother just thinking of all the crap that he went through. he felt bad and he felt like a failure to be completely honest. "Thank you for being my brother." Pony walked to the living room where Steve and Soda was playing poker, Two-Bit watching mickey mouse with a beer in his hand. Pony got his food on the table when Dally sat down snatching his plate out of his hands.

"I'm starving" Dally joked and Pony rolled his eyes.

"Then maybe you should get your own plate" Pony sassed at Dally. In that moment, everyone was quiet, everyone was nervous to see how Dallas Winston was going to act or whether both Darry and Soda would have to step in. The nerves were done when Dally laughed and rubbed Pony's head like he would have done for Johnny.

Nobody knew that Dally and Pony were getting close and now that Dally had now considered Pony as the new gang pet that once was filled by Johnny but everyone knew Johnny was one of a kind but Dally needed something or someone to love and that role would no other be filled by Pony.

"I don't get my food" Dally told Pony while eating his plate and Pony rolled his eyes once more getting his plate. Pony was actually eating more than he was in the past days. It was nice knowing that he could eat.

The next day, Pony got a ride to school with Two-bit and he arrived early to all of his classes. He was in his favorite class which was Mr. Syme's class. He saw Randy chatting with Cherry after class and Ponyboy walked up to him because he was still bent on Mr. Anderson and such. He tapped Randy's shoulder

"Hey" He greeted him

"Hi" Randy responded to him while shutting his locker closed.

"Can we talk" Ponyboy asked Randy and Randy nodded.

"What's up" Randy asked Ponyboy while getting ready to head to his next class with books in his hands.

"It's about what you said about your father" Pony rubbed the back of his neck with a hesitant look placed on his face.

"Yeah he was a greaser before he got married to my mom. My family went through the hard times of the great depression then my dad went to law school became a big exceptional lawyer and married my crazy mom. He became rich and I was born into a family of wealth" Randy explained while getting ready to go into his classroom.

"By the way I never told anyone that before" Randy winked at Pony causing Pony to think back to what Cherry was saying at the movie theatre about him being easy to talk to. He sighed but walked back to his classroom bumping into one Cherry Valence.

"Hey Pony" She was looking everywhere but Pony's eyes.

"Hi" Pony greeted her. "Now you can't even look me in the eyes and don't act like you haven't been avoiding me" Pony snapped at her.

"You know I can't be seen with you" Cherry pointed out to Ponyboy causing Ponyboy to sigh.

"It's fine though because I always knew you are nothing more than a stuck-up person. It's a wonder how Marcia is friends with you and how Randy cares about you" Ponyboy scolded Cherry before entering his math class. He did pretty well math it was his second-best class compared to English.

Ponyboy was now heading to the cafeteria trying to figure out where to sit when he was pulled out of the doorway to see Steve nudging him along in his car. Dally was leaning against the car door and handed Ponyboy a can of Pepsi. Dally had a cigarette in his hands and his leather jacket was on his him the burned one that Ponyboy wore during the church fire with Johnny.

"What's going on" Ponyboy asked the two guys.

"Well, I'm going to the DX for my shift and Dally here wants some food and for some odd reason he wants your company which I don't get considering you nothing more than a tag-along kid" Steve said to Ponyboy and for once Ponyboy was glad that him and Steve were being treated the same ever since Buck, Darry became more protective and so did Soda.

Pony loved his brothers more than anything but he needed some room to breathe.

"Two-bit is meeting us there and therefore he can take you back to school" Dally stomped on the cigarette and Ponyboy got into the car before you knew it, he saw Marcia and Two-bit just laughing at something.

Soda was definitely flirting behind the register, he had the charming smile and he eyes were dazzling the woman in line. You could tell she was practically on the verge of fainting. Soda did have some tricks into obtaining woman.

After the woman left with putting her number with Soda, every type of woman wanted Sodapop and there was no use in denying it at all. Soda greeted Steve with a handshake and gave Ponyboy another can of Pepsi and handed him some money so he could buy food but Ponyboy rejected it.

He was sitting on the hood of Steve's car with Dally. Dally was now smoking looking slightly scary and cool all at the same time.

"Hey Dals, do you think all of us could become something more than just greasers" Ponyboy asked Dally and it was filled with silence.


	15. Chapter 15: Socs Attack

Dallas just looked at Ponyboy and right then in that moment, Dallas knew the truth that Ponyboy was going places but it was too late for Dallas. Dallas knew that. It didn't bother him though not at all.

"You will Ponyboy. I know you will and Johnny will be so proud of you" Dallas rubbed Ponyboy's head with fondness.

"You think so what about you" Ponyboy asked Dally. Ponyboy knew that Dallas Winston was nothing more than just a hood to some people but Ponyboy saw the way he was to Johnny and how much he did for Johnny. He protected Johnny to the best of his ability and he really cared about Johnny maybe even loved him.

"Ponyboy, I ain't going nowhere but I'll tell you what when you make it. It will be for all of us" Dallas smiled at Ponyboy. This was Dallas rare smile that he had and never showed it to anyone even Johnny.

"Thanks Dal" Ponyboy smiled back at Dallas and Dallas nodded his head removing his smile off his face.

Soda and Steve was watching the interaction between Pony and Dally. Soda had this beaming smile on his face and Steve just sighed.

"Your brother and Dally" Steve started but Soda stopped him.

"What, I'm glad that Dally is leaning on Ponyboy to keep him alive" Soda exclaimed to Steve.

"You think that will keep Dally alive. Dally is not going to be okay just because of Ponyboy and plus Dally needs to lean on himself. Dally doesn't not to put his heart on someone." Steve muttered to Soda and Soda rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"You just upset because Evie broke up with you and now you don't want Pony and Dally to be friends" Soda huffed out with a smile on his face while he watched Dally and Pony shared a cigarette. Dallas never share his cigarettes. Soda and Steve went back outside because Soda was now on his break. Pony was now sitting on the hood of the car while smoking the cigarettes and pass it back to Dally.

"Hey where's Two-bit" Ponyboy asked looking around.

"Who cares" Steve commented and Ponyboy just shook his head at Steve.

"He probably getting boozed up right now" Dally shrugged his shoulders. Dally wrapped his arm around Ponyboy and Soda shared a look with Steve. Steve shrugged his shoulders right as Two-bit came out of his car. Two-bit smiled while holding beers offering to everyone in the group before handing one to Ponyboy. Pony looked at it before handing it back to Two-bit.

"You don't like beer anymore" Two-bit joked with Ponyboy.

"No, I just don't need to drink." Ponyboy hopped off the car and decided to go to the bathroom. Ponyboy just stared at himself in the reflection when the door opened. There stood socs that were Randy's and Bob's friends. Ponyboy was now scared shaking slightly as they started walking closer to him.

"Hey it's the guy who killed Bob and the fag" The Soc spat out and Ponyboy eyes looked over to the door and tried to escape when another Soc blocked his way out and shoved him into another soc.

"You got Randy on your side but you are nothing more than just a faggy greaser" The Soc shoved him into the wall. Ponyboy fell to the floor and tried to get up but the soc kicked him in the ribs several times.

One soc tried to undo Pony's pants and Pony tried to fight him but it was no use. The soc just kept hurting him. Another soc with red hair held onto his wrists. The soc with black hair was now on top of him and in that moment Pony just screamed begging, pleading with god to hear his cries but no one did. So he sat down on the floor that had blood on it.

The door opened and the socs left Ponyboy on the floor of the restroom to hurt to get up. Ponyboy just held his knees against his chest with tears falling down from his eyes.

The restroom door opened and there stood Steve who went to go to the bathroom. Ponyboy looked up at Steve with the most heartbroken look and Steve just stepped over the blood. Ponyboy had tears down his face. Steve sat down next to Ponyboy and placed his hand on Pony's shoulder. They didn't say anything but in that moment Steve knew what had happened in this restroom and Ponyboy was unfortunately the victim.

Ponyboy shook his head while Steve helped him up from the dirty floor of the restroom and helped him to get to Soda. In that moment Soda rushed over to Ponyboy checking everything over. Dallas was screaming and yelling and cursing everyone's name. Dallas walked over to to Ponyboy and he looked down at his clothes quite nasty filled with blood and Dallas saw the blood coming from his pants. Dallas face went to angry to sadness in that moment.

"Can I go home Soda" Ponyboy turned towards Soda and Soda just nodded.

"Don't worry Soda, we will make sure that Pony gets home safe and sound" Two-bit patted Soda's shoulder and Soda went back inside of the DX and so did Steve. Dally had his arm around Pony while Pony was shaking underneath Dally's protective shoulder.

As soon as they entered the house, Pony rushed to the bathroom and he gripped the bathroom sink while tears spilled out of his eyes. Two-bit watched as Ponyboy shake and him trying to block the tears. Two-bit sighed and walked into the bathroom.

"Ponyboy, what happened" Two-bit questioned even though he knew. He could see the way Ponyboy shook so much just like Johnny did when he got jumped from those socs.

"They were Bob's friends. I tried to stop them Two but it was no use" Pony blabbered on and Two-bit grabbed Pony in his arms trying to protect him and Pony started sobbing full on sobbing about everything. Dallas hung from the door hearing Pony sob his eyes out and Dallas was angry no he was furious, he wanted to kill each and every one of those Socs.

Dallas and Two-bit were on the couch with Mickey playing in the background but neither men said anything. The front door opened and there stood Steve and Soda. Soda looked distressed.

"Did he say what happened" Soda asked both men and Two-bit got off the couch and grabbed Soda's shoulders. This was one of those few times that Two-bit was serious.

"Yeah they forced themselves on Pony. He's sleeping right now but he cried so much Soda." Two-bit stated while Dallas was now cracking his knuckles and he was shaking his head in annoyance. He got up from the couch and stormed out of the house. Steve followed Dallas out of the house.

"Where you going" Steve asked Dally.

"Out" Dallas commented before opening the gate of the Curtis's but Steve stepped in front of Dallas.

"You going to try to kill those socs" Steve commented to Dallas.

"They deserve to die." Dally snarled.

"So you going to get yourself locked up when Pony needs you. He needs us" Steve said to Dally and Dally sighed.

"Why does this keep happening to Pony" Dally yelled at Steve and Steve gulped shaking his head.

"I don't know Dally but this is going to make him stronger." Steve led Dally back into the house. It was now quiet while they now wait for Darry to come home to tell him that their little brother was yet again attacked so severally.

Two-bit was worried about Pony's personality changing

Dally was worried about Pony going hard or attempting to get tough. Dallas didn't want that.

Soda just wanted his little brother to be innocent like when he was five.

Steve didn't want Pony to become him because he liked Pony just the person he was. He was going places. Steve didn't hate the kid, he was in this gang and that wouldn't change.


	16. Chapter 16: Telling Darry the Truth

Telling Darry was going to be hard but someone had to do it and Soda decided he would be the one to break the news to Darry. So as the front door opened and Darry was putting on his coat in the closet. Darry felt that people was staring and he could feel the tension in the room. Mickey was on mute which was rare for that to happen. Two-bit was looking down, Dallas just looked pissed but Dallas always looked pissed to be honest. Steve was looking out of the window not saying anything at all like usual. Darry just sat down in his recliner and Soda sat down on the table in front of him. Darry looked at Soda's face and could tell something bad had happen.

"Darry" Soda started to speak while trying to say it without crying. "Something happened with Pony."

"What happened Soda" Darry questioned Soda and Soda just sighed while shaking his head.

"Some socs came to the DX and attacked Pony. I am so sorry Darry. I should have protected him." Soda sobbed and Darry just patted Soda's back.

"It's not your fault not even remotely." Darry comforted his little brother and just like that Darry walked to Pony's room and Pony was shaking with tears. Darry saw the red marks across his brother's arms like he was scrubbing really hard.

"Pony" Darry spoke.

Pony just hugged Darry while sobbing and Darry hugged his little brother tight trying to comfort him but Darry wasn't the comforting one that role belonged to Sodapop.

"Buddy" Darry said and Pony pulled away.

"Please tell me I don't have to go to school tomorrow." Pony whispered and Darry just nodded his head.

"I'll call you in sick" Darry patted Pony's shoulders and Pony just went back to laid down before you knew it, Pony was now asleep and Darry closed the bedroom door. He sighed while shaking his head. Darry was now blaming himself for the attack on Pony. Pony was only 14 years old but he already went through so much. Darry thought he was doing an awful job raising Ponyboy and Sodapop. He couldn't even keep Soda in school and now Ponyboy was being assaulted. Darry leaned against the wall with his head in his hands. It was hard to forget that Darry was only 20 years old. He heard footsteps and was shocked to see Steve sitting there not saying anything.

"It wasn't your fault" Steve commented. "Pony doesn't blame you or Soda not at all."

"How do you know" Darry demanded to Steve. Steve was quiet for a few moments trying to decide if he should tell his secret to Darry, he already told Ponyboy.

"I have been where Ponyboy have been and I also been where you stood too" Steve confessed to Darry and Darry turned towards Steve with shock. "Darry, I was a little bit younger than Ponyboy was when it happened to me."

"Who was it" Darry demanded and Steve just faced forward.

"Like I told Ponyboy it doesn't matter anymore." Steve exclaimed and Darry grabbed Steve's shoulder demanding answers.

"Does Soda know" Darry asked Steve and Steve shook his head.

"I don't want Soda to know" Steve faced forward. "You know mom loves dating all these men one of them was bound to be a bad guy."

Darry didn't say anything and Steve continued. "boyfriend number 3."

"Steve, why didn't you say anything about it? My parents would have done everything for you." Darry asked Steve and Steve shrugged his shoulders.

"Look, I should get home but believe me when I say this: It is not your fault keep telling that to Soda" Steve got up from his seat on the floor and so did Darry. Steve now walked out of the house not even looking back.

Steve entered his house to see that it had been quiet. Steve couldn't believe that now Darry, Pony and Johnny knew the truth of his past and he wished he never opened his mouth but he wished that Ponyboy was not a victim but he was and it did suck. He wanted to kill boyfriend number 3. Steve heard all the rumors about Ponyboy around this town and the school and it made Steve annoyed because Ponyboy didn't ask for what Buck did. Steve wanted Ponyboy to be okay because this was his best friend brother.

Steve just sighed and he heard a knock on the door and there stood Ponyboy soaked with the rain coming down. Steve eyes went wide with shock.

"Ponyboy" Steve said.

"I just need someone who gets it." Ponyboy exclaimed to Steve and Steve nodded because he understood exactly of that feeling and he wanted to be that for Pony so that way he doesn't result to self-harm. Steve messed with his arm because for Steve of 13 years old didn't have anyone to turned to who went through similar experiences.

"Come in" Steve urged to Ponyboy. "Does Darry and Soda know you're here?"

"Yeah I left a note" Ponyboy said while Steve handed him a towel. "You know Steve, I always thought we would ever get along." Ponyboy forced a chuckle out.

"Yeah me either."

"Steve, I appreciate the fact that you are treating me the same. It seemed like everything was falling back into place before the socs took that away from me." Ponyboy looked down at his feet. Steve sighed.

"Kid, you cannot let them win. What happened to the boy who wrote the Outsiders story or what happened to the kid who loved clouds and is a dreamer." Steve nudged Pony.

"He's dead Steve" Pony commented and Steve shook his head.

"You cannot let him disappear Pony. That boy is still inside of you. What did you do when Johnny died?" Steve brought up.

"I wrote the Outsiders." Ponyboy said looking at Steve.

"What did you do when your parents died."

"I wrote a poem for them."

"And what about" Steve started to say but Ponyboy sighed.

"Okay I get it. You telling me to write my feelings down and tell what happened to me in a story format." Pony said.

"Bingo." Steve gave Pony a thumbs up and Pony got ready to leave Steve's house when he turned towards Steve.

"What did you do when you was raped" Pony questioned to Steve and Steve sighed and lifted up his shirt to reveal past cut scars along his stomach.


	17. Chapter 17: Secret life of Randy

Randy was walking down the hall when he heard his ex-friends chatting about something related to Ponyboy.

"Man, I sure hope we taught that fag greaser a lesson." Kirk said while laughing and high fiving his other friends. Randy just stayed where he was.

"Yeah I do believe that we taught him some valuable lesson. He do not mess with us." Kirk continued to talk and Randy just felt a sense of anger building up inside of him like how dare they go after Ponyboy. Randy was getting sick of greasers and socs not getting along. It seemed so pointless to be honest. Randy walked up to Kirk and his gang.

"You are so messed up" Randy said to them. One of them was looking down at his feet, Randy noticed that Kirk's brother felt bad and possibly guilty but that wasn't going to fix what they did at all.

"Come on Randy, that kid is nothing more than just a greaser" Kirk mentioned and put his hand on Randy's shoulder and Randy moved his hand off his shoulder. He walked away and he felt someone grab his shoulders. It was Randy's younger brother Smithy.

"How is he" Smithy questioned Randy and Randy rubbed the back of his neck.

"I don't know but I need to talk to Ponyboy." Randy was about to leave when Smithy stopped him once again.

"How can you forgive him for killing Bob" Smithy asked and Randy sighed.

"Because it was our fault to begin with. Bob is dead because of his own fault but that Johnny kid is dead because of us." Randy quickly left the school and started driving down the Greasers of town. He ran out of his car and knocked on the Curtis's house and Dallas Winston opened it. He had a sneered on his face. He was angry to see Randy here standing in front of the door. Randy was terrified of Dallas Winston and anyone in their right mind should be.

"What are you here" Dallas growled at Randy and Randy sighed.

"I didn't know what they were planning on doing to Ponyboy. I swear" Randy said to Dally and Dally slammed the door in Randy's face and Randy knocked once again.

"I can give you their names and where they hang out" Randy stated to Dally and Dally just continued to glare. Ponyboy walked out of the room to see that Randy was there. Randy looked down at his feet. Dally rubbed Ponyboy's head and Ponyboy just looked down at the ground.

"WELL SPEAK" Dally spoke harshly.

"Kirk David, Smithy David, Paul Stone and Tony" Randy blurted out the names at the tip of his tongue before leaving quickly into his car. Randy walked into his house to see Aaron was there laughing with his father. They were watching a movie and eating popcorn.

"Hey kid" Mr. Anderson greeted his son.

"Hey dad and Aaron" Randy responded to his dad and Aaron.

"What's going on? Shouldn't be at school" Mr. Anderson pointed out and Randy just rolled his eyes before going to his room. Randy started doodling a picture. Randy was an artist and no one knew that not even his father, friends basically anyone.

Everyone is entitled to their own secrets right. Randy had to keep his whole family life a secret and now his secret passion. Randy just stared at the ceiling while lying down. Mr. Anderson wasn't exactly the perfect father and it did take years for that to happen. Randy was always left alone when he was kid because his mom was always having freakouts and his father would just leave with her.

It also didn't help that Randy saw his father kissing a man even though he was still married to his mother. Randy was confused but he learned that it was better to keep his life a secret from that moment. Randy learned how to cook despite having a chef in the house. Randy wanted to be independent unlike Bob who took every chance to get money from his parents.

He didn't have the perfect life far from it. His bedroom door opened and there stood Aaron and not his father. Randy liked Aaron, he became a second father who was good at comforting someone. Aaron was the gentle one.

"Hey, your father is worried about you" Aaron nudged Randy and Randy sighed.

"Well let's see i lost my friends, Ponyboy won't talk to me and last time I checked I have to be okay with everything. Aaron don't get me wrong you are perfect for my father but I'm tired of lying and hiding secrets from everybody. Cherry won't talk to me and I know I said I was fine with Marcia dating a greaser but I was with her for so long. Bob is dead and everyone is gone in my life." Randy rambled to Aaron who was occasionally nodding his head and rubbing Randy's back in comfort. Aaron took out a letter and handed to Randy. I

t was letter from Stanford, this was his dream school. Randy always wanted to go there and do something with his life. Randy ripped open the letter to see it was indeed a acceptance letter to Stanford. He was pretty happy. His father wanted him to go to Harvard but Harvard wasn't exactly his dream at all. Randy Anderson wanted to be his own person.

"I knew that would make you happy" Aaron hugged Randy leaving Randy by himself in his room clutching the letter.

Dear Randy Anderson,

The committee of admission has completed its regular decision meetings. Based on your academics and extracurricular we happy to offer a place in the class of 1965. We certainly hope that Stanford is the perfect match for you and future endeavors. We hope that you will find your full potential here at Stanford because you are one of a kind Mr. Anderson.

Welcome to Stanford

Sincerely,

The President of Stanford.


	18. Chapter 18: Back to A Nightmare

Ponyboy knew he couldn't avoid not going to school because despite everything. He had this amount of pressure consuming him to do something with his life so that way, he could make the gang happy. He wanted to help Darry with bills, he wanted to do everything for Darry and his family.

Ponyboy had a bag slugged over his shoulder as he made his way out of the house. He saw Dally standing outside of a car that he probably stole.

"Need a ride to school" Dally said and Ponyboy nodded his head. Ponyboy got into the passenger seat of the car and Dally made his way to the school. Dally watched as Ponyboy entered the school building. Dally was banned from entering the school but it didn't stop him from hanging out of the parking lot. Dally never even followed rules ever.

Ponyboy walked through the halls with a fake smile on his face, he opened his locker. He heard footsteps behind him and he turned to see that it was Randy.

"Ponyboy, I need to be honest. I swear I didn't know what Kirk was planning." Randy said while Ponyboy shut the locker closed and started walking to class and Randy followed him. "Ponyboy, I'm doing everything for you."

"Your class is in the opposite wing" Pony stated to him.

"I care about you Ponyboy. I would never do anything to harm you in anymore. I'm sick of this greaser vs socs" Randy was standing in front of Pony and Pony just stared at Randy. They just stared at each other not saying anything at all.

"You told Dally the names of those socs. You know he is going to kill them." Ponyboy mentioned to Randy and Randy just shook his head.

"They deserve it." Randy shrugged his shoulders. "They have not been good people at all and if Dallas Winston hurts them that is not my problem. I would say that it's actually karma."

Ponyboy shook his head but he had a smile on his face now as he entered his english class with one of his favorite teachers who forced him to write the composition. Ever since Johnny's death, he have been keeping up with his grades. His worse subject was math but somehow he still had an A in math class.

Ponyboy started writing down in his journal not even remotely paying attention to what Mr. Syme was even saying to begin with. He reached down into his pocket and felt a piece of paper. It was from Randy. It was a drawing of himself, Ponyboy was confused and amazed at the talent that Randy had possessed.

As soon as he left the classroom, he saw Randy rubbing his neck looking down. "Hi" Randy said.

"Hey" Ponyboy greeted him back. "I saw the drawing. You are pretty amazing at drawing."

"Thanks but don't tell anyone okay." Randy was now making Ponyboy promise and Ponyboy agreed to keep his little secret that he didn't want anyone to know.

Ponyboy got ready to go to lunch but he saw that Randy was now sitting by himself and Ponyboy was about to go over to Randy but Curly pulled him back.

"I thought you quit school." Ponyboy mentioned to Curly because Curly hadn't been going to school.

"Apparently it's illegal for me not to go to school." Curly shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway, you should leave Mr. Soc alone."

"Sorry, Randy is pretty cool. He's helping me." Ponyboy said before walking over to Randy. "You want to come out to the parking lot to eat instead of being by yourself."

"No, it's cool Ponyboy. I liked to be by myself anyway." Randy said with a genuine smile on his face and Ponyboy nodded leaving Randy eating lunch by himself. Ponyboy caught up with Two-bit who was drinking a beer with Steve. Dally was nowhere to be found.

"You know Pony, Dally haven't gotten in trouble since you know robbing the store." Two-bit mentioned because it was true because when Ponyboy tells Dally not to do something instead of Dally get angry at Ponyboy he just agrees not to do the thing he thinks of doing. If it was anybody else commanding Dally to not do anything, they would get punched beside Johnny.

It was now obvious to Two-bit and Steve that Pony was now Dally's pet in the gang to somehow make Dally fill his cold heart spot to care for someone. Two-bit knew in order to keep Dally alive, he needed one thing or person to care for and since Johnny was gone. Dally had to find someone else to care for, someone who was alive, Ponyboy Curtis seemed like the obvious choice, innocent, smartass, quiet and vulnerable kid who wants to see the good in people.

"You wanna smoke" Steve offered Pony his cig and Pony turned it down.

"I need to cut back if I'm going to be back on the track team. Spring is coming up and such." Pony shrugged his shoulders.

Pony used to smoke a lot but he wasn't be able to run as much as he could so he figured it was the cigs considering everybody in the town knew that cigarettes weren't healthy which explained why Darry never touched it. Neither would Mr. and Mrs. Curtis would have approved of their kids smoking but when Darry became the guardian it was hard to stop Pony from smoking it.

"Darry is going to be happy to hear" Two-bit pointed out.

"Hear what that I'm going to stop smoking or the fact I wanna be back on the track team" Ponyboy asked Two-bit.

"Both I guess. I thought you already spoke to the coach." Two-Bit asked.

"I did but I haven't heard anything back." Ponyboy sighed while starting to eat his sandwich and Two-bit nodded his head in understanding. Steve just stood back listening to the conversation between Pony and Two-Bit. Steve knew that Ponyboy saving grace was track, it kept Ponyboy together and it helped with the idea of college and such.

Ponyboy was fast when he wanted to be and he damn good enough to make it to college on full scholarship to college and that's Darry was always one to emphasize sports and academics. The Curtis were always like that. Darry just wanted Pony to make it and be happy with whatever be the case but some parents aren't like that. Pony knew that from the neighborhood he was living in.


	19. Chapter 19:The Backstory of Mr Anderson

It was shocking to see Kirk and the rest of the gang leaping around the school but Ponyboy knew that it was because of Dallas Winston teaching them a lesson. Ponyboy didn't care about those monsters anymore. He wanted them to be in pain. Ponyboy opened his locker to see another drawing probably from Randy. Ponyboy just kept a smile on his face and he caught Randy eye and Randy gave him some thumbs up. Ponyboy was now sitting in class when his name was being called. There were police and they handcuffed little old Ponyboy.

Pony was now sitting in an interrogation room refusing to speak. Pony knew the laws and rules ever since Bob's death. He didn't want to say anything that can be misconstrued. The door opened and there stood Mr. Anderson with a pair of glasses attached to his face and Pony got up from the chair. Mr. Anderson sat down in front of Pony.

"Did they read your Miranda rights?" Mr. Anderson questioned Pony and Ponyboy shook his head not saying anything.

"Why are they doing this to me? I haven't done anything" Pony exclaimed to Mr. Anderson. In that moment Mr. Anderson saw a little mini him.

"I don't know but my guess is because you are a greaser nothing more nothing less."

"I just want to go home"

"I know, I will get you out of her. They cannot keep you without informing your guardian and any confession they get out of you will be invalid due to the fact that the officers didn't not read your rights. Just hang on" Mr. Anderson getting out of the seat and Pony just sighed.

It was getting claustrophobic in this interrogation room. Mr. Anderson came back into the room with the officers unlocking Pony's handcuffs. Pony rubbed his wrists together. Mr. Anderson and Ponyboy walked out of the cell together.

"Next time you want to target Ponyboy for something he didn't do maybe you should read his rights and call his guardian. Ponyboy is a smart boy and as his lawyer now. You better start preparing for the battle because I will back Ponyboy up now and forever. I also suggest that you stop bothering Ponyboy and his family or I will not hesitate to take away my contribution to this police force." Mr. Anderson was standing in front of the officers.

Ponyboy walked over to Darry when he saw him hugging him tight. Dally shook his head while all officers had their hands on their guns in case Dally decided to attack them and trust me when I say this that Dally wanted to hurt everybody that hurt Ponyboy.

Mr. Anderson walked away with the gang leaving the police station. Dally pulled Ponyboy away from Darry.

"Are you okay? They didn't do anything to you" Dally questioned Pony.

"No, it was stuffy in that room, but Dally I didn't do anything wrong. Mr. Anderson came in the nick of time." Pony confessed to Dally and Dally just sighed. Darry was chatting with Mr. Anderson.

"What now?" Darry questioned Mr. Anderson. "Are they going to keep harassing Pony?"

"Probably, they going to keep doing it because you are seen as a greaser." Mr. Anderson said while shaking his head. "Look, Pony is doing everything right. He kept silent in there not giving those officers anything to arrest him."

"Pony doesn't need this kind of stress. He's already falling to pieces Mr. Anderson."

"I know but I will try to protect him for the law itself. Do you mind if I show Pony something?" Mr. Anderson asked Darry and Darry looked over at Dally and Pony. Dally had his arm around Pony holding him tight. Darry started forming one of his rare smile. Dally found his happiness in Pony and Pony seemed to be adjusting fine.

"Yes, I guess you can, but I want him back home at 5 pm that's when we have dinner." Darry told Mr. Anderson giving him a handshake.

Ponyboy got into the car while Mr. Anderson drove throughout the neighborhood,

"I'm assuming that Randy told you that I was a greaser." Mr. Anderson said while he parked the car. Pony and Mr. Anderson walked on the cold wet grass. They both sat down in front of a gravestone.

"This is my mother's grave. She died when I was 12 years old and dad abandoned my family. I had to survive on my own for a while until I met Randy's mother. She gave me food and hid me in her room. She was a soc and I was nothing more than just a greaser. I'm telling you this because I want you to know you can become anything. Come on I have one more thing to show you"

Pony nodded just taking in all the information about Mr. Anderson. Pony couldn't believe that Mr. Anderson was a greaser and now he has money.

"I will always be a greaser and I will always stick up for my fellow greasers." Mr. Anderson patted Pony's shoulder and they walked around the town together. They stopped at a house that was almost being torn down.

"This is the house I grew up in for at least 12 years of my life."

"How did your mother die" Pony finally spoke to Mr. Anderson.

"She was murdered by a soc." Mr. Anderson still looked at the house that was in ruins.

"You know Johnny could have used you all those years ago" Pony stated to Mr. Anderson and Mr. Anderson sighed while shaking his head.

"I know, I read all about Johnny and I wished I could have done something for him. He reminded me of me."

"What do you mean" Pony raised an eyebrow.

"You both do. I was a loner with no one but myself, but Pony I was like I succeeded in academics. I was a scrawny kid who took on the world by himself." Mr. Anderson said, and Pony and Mr. Anderson walked into the house.

It looked slightly abandoned.


	20. Chapter 20: The House in the Hood

As soon as Ponyboy stepped into the house, he could see how bad the house was in. The smell was horrible and Ponyboy saw the blood marks along the walls. Ponyboy felt like he was back in Johnny's house. Mr. Anderson was now looking around and gave Ponyboy a small smile.

"My father when he was around, was abusive especially to me. I always wished he was dead." Mr. Anderson stated to Ponyboy and Ponyboy looked down at the ground. "I still own this house but I'm going to tear it down actually."

"Why did you keep here all these years" Ponyboy asked him quietly.

"I guess so I don't forget where I came from. Ponyboy I don't ever want myself to be like those Socs parents and god knows I am far from that. I guess that's why I was angry at Randy for what he did to you guys." Mr. Anderson confessed.

"How long did he know that you came from the wrong side of the tracks." Ponyboy asked Mr. Anderson.

"Not long after what he did to you guys. I should have been more present in Randy's life." Mr. Anderson turned towards Ponyboy shaking his head.

Mr. Anderson walked up the stairs and Ponyboy followed him quickly. As soon as Pony walked the whole atmosphere made Ponyboy uncomfortable.

"This was my room." Mr. Anderson stated to Ponyboy. Pony looked around the room and realized how lucky he was to live in a room that wasn't so tiny. The room was tiny and had blood spluttered along the room.

"Why are you showing me this." Ponyboy asked Mr. Anderson and Mr. Anderson sighed looking down at the clock. It was time that Ponyboy get dropped off at his house. Mr. Anderson didn't lock the house. Ponyboy and Mr. Anderson walked back to the car to see it was still there. Mr. Anderson chuckled as he noticed that the window was broken.

"What's funny" Ponyboy pointed out to Mr. Anderson.

"I don't know I guess I miss living in this neighborhood." Mr. Anderson shrugged his shoulders and drove Ponyboy back to the Curtis. Pony looked at his house and he was about to leave the car. Mr. Anderson handed him a file and Ponyboy looked at Mr. Anderson.

"Believe it or not but I was just like Dallas Winston" Mr. Anderson told Ponyboy before leaving Pony to walk back inside of the house. The house was filled with chicken and Two-bit was drinking a beer in front of the television.

"Hey guys" Pony greeted everyone in the living room. Dally gave him a head nod and rubbing Pony's head in a comforting way.

"So, what did Mr. Anderson show you" Steve brought up to Ponyboy and Two-bit grabbed the folder out from Ponyboy's arm.

"Hey" Pony screamed at Two-Bit and Two-bit mouth dropped.

"Guys it seems that Mr. Anderson wasn't always a moral citizen" Two-bit passed along the folder and that's when Dallas got the folder. It showed Mr. Anderson in a mugshot with an angry face and you could see that the world was against him.

"Can I show you guys something tomorrow." Pony asked around the room.

"I can't me and Darry have work" Soda said with a frown on his face.

"What about you Steve" Pony now turned towards Steve.

"Nope not hanging out with a little kid" Steve winked at Pony when no one else was looking. Pony wanted to be treated like everything was normal, so Steve was going to do that for him.

"Two-Bit" Pony said.

"Got to babysit my sister tomorrow. Mom working late."

"I'll go with you" Dally said while putting down the folder on the couch leaving it opened. Pony smiled at Dally and Dally's eyes were now soften but still a hatred of the world.

Dally would always feel the world betrayed him. There was no doubt about that.

Ponyboy went to his room and started reading the file of Mr. Anderson with amazement still wondering why Mr. Anderson cared so much about him. The door knocked and there stood Dally leaning against the doorframe.

"I trust Mr. Anderson." Dallas stated and walked out of Pony's door frame. Ponyboy didn't understand how in the world did Mr. Anderson became one of the most successful lawyers with this rap sheet. It would put Tim Shepherd to shame. That was true.

"Ponyboy" Darry said while sitting in a chair in front of Pony.

"Yeah Darry" Pony replied. "Mr. Anderson is one of us."

"Yup sounds like it." Darry smiled at Ponyboy. "See you can still make it out of this town."

"Darry, I don't know if I can. I like where I am, and I like who I am." Ponyboy stated to Darry.

"Ponyboy you can still stay the same, but you don't have to be here." Darry told Ponyboy leaving Pony to himself just thinking to himself.

The next morning came by and Darry and Soda were both gone before Ponyboy woke up. Dally was sitting on the couch trying to analyze the file that he was holding of the big-shot lawyer. Dally wondered why Mr. Anderson gave Ponyboy this file.

Dally now understood why Mr. Anderson was helping Ponyboy but why didn't he help Johnny. Why didn't he teach his son not to go after weak and vulnerable kids who already had a horrible home life.

Dally didn't want to be angry at Randy because of Ponyboy told him to but Dally was having a hard time letting that go. Johnny was like the one person he cared about in his whole entire time.

Dally wanted to know what Pony wanted to show him. Ponyboy was now up and ready to go. He was dragging Dally out of the house. They kept walking for ages. Dally was getting impatient and everything.

Once Ponyboy stopped, Dally was now in front of the very same house that Ponyboy stood. Pony and Dally entered the house with shock.

"Where are we, Pony" Dally questioned Pony.

"Mr. Anderson's house." Pony responded this time feeling better seeing the house again for the second time. "It reminds me of Johnny's house."

"No this house is way worse than Johnny's" Dally said while walking around looking shocked at the amount of dried blood.

"Dally, I don't want you to give up on yourself." Pony commented to Dally and Dally just stared at Pony biting his lip and his eyes went from his frozen eyes to the same look that he had when Johnny had died.

"Let's go" Dally commanded and just like that the look was gone and his eyes went back to being frozen.


	21. Chapter 21: Letting Go of an Ego

It was like everything in Ponyboy's life was changing and Ponyboy didn't know if that was good or bad. He put on his shirt before walking out of his room bumping into Steve. Steve just walked passed him greeting Soda with a high five and their signature handshake. Ponyboy walked down the stairs grabbing a bowl of cereal not saying much.

"Come on Pones, I'm giving you a ride to school" Dally stated while taking the spoon out of Pony's hand taking a bite out of his cereal. Ponyboy just shook his head in amusement.

Darry just sat there drinking his cup of coffee. Ponyboy grabbed his bag and walked out of the house with Dally following him.

"Bye Superman" Dally said while guiding Pony to his car. Darry just shook his head just thinking back to the fact that Dally never volunteered to take Ponyboy to school but yet he was taking Ponyboy to school.

The car ride to the school was quiet and the radio was playing some country music that Pony and Dally couldn't stand at all. Pony said thanks to Dally before walking through the high school. He saw Randy sitting on a bench with a sketchpad in his hands. Ponyboy glanced at the drawing, it was a drawing of cartoons or something.

"Hey Randy" Pony greeted him.

"Hi Pony. I guess my father came through for you" Randy exclaimed.

"Yeah thanks for calling him" Pony thanked Randy and Randy just shrugged his shoulders.

"I should get going to class" Randy patted Pony's shoulder before leaving Ponyboy all alone in the hallway. Pony just sighed before grabbing his books before he was stopped by Cherry Valence. The very girl that Pony couldn't stand at all.

"Hey Pony" Cherry greeted Pony and Pony pushed passed her not saying anything at all.

"Pony please stop." Cherry begged Pony and Pony did actually stop. "I'm sorry for what I did. You didn't deserve it."

"It's a bit too late to apologize. I have to get to class" Ponyboy walked into his class and sat down in the front trying to pay attention but they were whispers coming around the room. Ponyboy just continued to take notes until he felt a tap, it was one of the guy who attacked him. Ponyboy just ignored him while gripping the pencil so tight in his hands. He couldn't take it anymore, he grabbed his stuff before storming out of the classroom trying to take a deep breathe in and out.

Pony kept repeating. He knew that Darry wasn't going to like him leaving the class but he couldn't be in that room anymore. He sat down on a bench just trying to get his breathing even. He felt a tap on his shoulder and somehow it was Two-bit. He didn't say anything, he just sat with Pony.

Two-bit did notice how shaking the youngest member was and he knew Pony was far from being healed even though it seemed like everything was going to be okay. Ponyboy had already been through so much.

"Want to go for a walk" Two-bit suggested to Pony and Pony nodded his head. Two-bit picked Pony's stuff and lead him out of the school. Two-bit had his arm around Pony and Pony just snuggled into Two-bit like Two-bit was going to save him.

Two-bit wanted to save Ponyboy but he didn't know how to handle it. I mean Two-bit is used to drinking away his problems.

The bell rang signally that it lunch time and Cherry saw Ponyboy just hiding away into his friend with the sideburns. Cherry looked back at her cheerleading friends, then at Randy who was sitting by himself outside. Cherry walked up to Pony and Two-bit glared at Cherry signally she needed to leave but instead Cherry stood on a table.

"I want to say sorry to Ponyboy Curtis" Cherry said at the top of her lungs and Pony stared at Cherry with a sad small smile on his face. Cherry hopped down from the table and stood in front of Pony.

"You didn't have to do that" Pony mumbled to her.

"I did because Pony you deserve an apology and everyone should hear it. People shouldn't dislike you." Cherry told Pony and Pony smile started growing. Cherry walked away ignoring the looks and sat down across from Randy. Randy and Cherry didn't say anything for the next lunch time.

Ponyboy after school decided he needed to let out some steam and he sat on the bleachers watching his teammates practice for their meet and Ponyboy wished he could participate. When he noticed that everyone was gone, Ponyboy stepped down from the bleachers and took a deep breathe before lining up on the line and ran like he was running away from something or someone. Ponyboy didn't even notice how long he was running but it was beginning to get late.

Two-bit, Steve, Dally, Soda and Darry all watched from the sidelines watching as Pony huffed and puffed while running around the track with some sort of urgency.

Darry was amazed how fast his brother was running and how he could still run at this speed without a second thought. His brother was going someway.

(Italics is thoughts)

Soda: _Pony sure does run fast_

Steve: _Man nothing can stop that kid_

Two-bit: _I wish I could run that fast._

Dally: _That kid looks like he's running from something or someone._

Darry: _Pony is definitely going to a scholarship from track._

As soon as Pony was done running around the track, Pony collapsed on the track sobbing his eyes out. Soda noticed that and ran to Ponyboy hugging him tight. Darry was the next one running to Pony. Steve stayed back not great at comforting people and Dally stayed back because he didn't want to be in a nice mood even if he cared for the kid.

Pony, Darry and Soda all walked back to the truck not saying anything. Darry was upset that Ponyboy left school but he wasn't going to yell at him for it. He was over the point of yelling considering what Two-bit had told him what had happened. Darry didnt want to force Pony going back to school but he needed to graduate high school.


	22. Chapter 22: Greaser vs Fag

Ponyboy was sitting down at the desk just trying to think about what to write in terms of the assignment that Mr. Symth gave the class. He had no idea what to write in that moment but he knew he needed to get this homework done so that him and Dally could go to the movies and even visit little Johnny's headstone. It was essential because regardless of how Darry felt about everything. Soda sat on the desk next to Ponyboy and peeked over Ponyboy's shoulder to see nothing was written on the page. Pony sighed in annoyance.

"I can't write a poem." Ponyboy huffed out and Soda just had his signature smile on his face.

"You can. You are a Curtis right" Soda patted Ponyboy's shoulder. "Write what you know."

Soda left Ponyboy alone in his room and Ponyboy sighed while walking over the basket and looking at the clothes that Pony was wearing when he was raped from the socs and Buck. The clothes still had the blood stain all over it and now Ponyboy was on the ground surrounded by the clothes just thinking before grabbing his notebook and he started writing it. Ponyboy had his idea now and when he has an idea he write forever. The door opened and Pony saw it was Dally. Dally joined him on the ground not saying anything. Dally looked around the room and saw the clothes that had blood stained all over it.

"What's going on" Dally asked Ponyboy

"I don't know, I just never got rid of these clothes. You would think I would want to get rid of anything that reminds me of those nights but I haven't. It's not like i have lot of clothes. I just thought washing them the blood would go away. Jokes on me." Ponyboy stood up from the floor and Dally joined him.

"If you need more clothes, I'm sure you can have some of mine and not to mention Steve was once your side. He probably still have those clothes. You shouldn't need to keep those clothes and I'm sure Superman wouldn't want you to keep them either." Dally rubbed Ponyboy's head.

"I'm not up to going out anymore." Ponyboy stated to Dally and Dally nodded his head. They both just sat down on the couch watching Mickey while Two-bit was finishing his piece of cake up.

Darry came home and plopped down in his recliner that once belonged to Mr. Curtis.

"You finished your homework." Darry questioned Ponyboy and Ponyboy nodded his head.

"Can I check over it." Darry asked Ponyboy.

"No, I'll read it to you guys sometime just not now." Ponyboy stated to Darry and Darry nodded his head before heading to the kitchen to prep for dinner since Soda and Steve were both working late at the DX. Dally went to Tim's to spend the night there, Darry was in his room sleeping and Ponyboy was sitting at his desk rereading over his poem he had written. It was filled with pain but it conveyed a meaning. The poem was important and Pony was following Steve's advice for once in his life.

The next morning came, and Dally drove Ponyboy yet again to school. Ponyboy was at his locker when Cherry waved at him and Randy handed him another drawing when he saw Ponyboy was heading to his English class.

Ponyboy was beyond nervous to read his poem in front of the class but he felt that he had to. He had to tell everyone the truth about what socs and Buck Muriel did to him and how it affected him. This poem could give the rest of the class the insight of who Ponyboy Curtis is. The girl in the yellow dress was in class just looking at the clock. The girl who had called Ponyboy nothing but a hood would know the truth about the events leading up to being raped and forced into something Ponyboy didn't want.

Ponyboy listened to everyone's poem which had simple meanings. One poem was just based on cars and how it makes him happy, another one was about shopping. Mr. Symth called Ponyboy to the front in which the class laughed as usual at his name but Mr. Symth gave him a thumbs up but that didn't take away the nerves at all.

Ponyboy cleared his throat and hold his poem which was two pages. Ponyboy hands were slightly shaking so much that anyone could notice.

"This poem is called Greaser vs Fag" Ponyboy stated before beginning the poem.

 _ **"It's a three letter word**_

 _ **I have been called**_

 _ **I think I like the term greaser more**_

 _ **It's not as intense as the word fag**_

 _ **FAG, FAG, FAG that's the three letter word I have now been called**_

 _ **Not Greaser but Fag**_

 _ **Why because some rumors that I slept with a guy who was 25**_

 _ **But that's not true from my memory.**_

 _ **I remember screaming so loud that my voice was hoarse.**_

 ** _I remember begging for anyone to hear that scream_**

 ** _I remember the blood dripping down my leg_**

 ** _Staining my clothes, leaving a mark on my skin and my memory_**

 ** _I remember the guy telling me not to tell anyone to keep it hushed_**

 ** _I remember every single detail of the ways I said no_**

 ** _I pushed him off right_**

 ** _That doesn't mean yes right_**

 ** _I made it clear that I wasn't interested_**

 ** _Isn't no supposed to mean no._**

 ** _I can hear his voice in my ears telling me to stop or he would make it worse._**

 ** _I can remember them surrounding me inside of a bathroom at a gas station_**

 ** _Calling the very word that doesn't mean me. FAG_**

 ** _I hate that word more than anything_**

 ** _I was minding my own business._**

 ** _I can hear each voice telling me to stop struggling and enjoy it_**

 ** _The voices and the touching still haunts me in my mind._**

 ** _The bruises are gone but my mind is still holding onto what happened._**

 ** _Greaser and a fag is now what i am known as._**

 ** _But you heard the story now and how I am not a fag but someone who was victim of a horrible crime._**

 ** _This wasn't supposed to happen to me._**

 ** _I changed_**

 ** _I don't know if it's good or bad_**

 ** _I don't know who I am anymore_**

 ** _I don't know how to breathe anymore_**

 ** _I don't know how to be okay!"'_**

Ponyboy finished his poem struggling to finish it without tears but he was doing it well. Everyone was now looking at him and looked sympathetic to Ponyboy. Ponyboy handed the poem to Mr. Symth before rushing to sit back down into his classroom. The girl in the yellow was staring at him with tears in her eyes, she didn't looked so smug as she once did.


	23. Chapter 23: Mental Breakdown

Class was officially over and Ponyboy was about to leave when Mr. Symth stopped him from leaving the urged Ponyboy to sit down at his desk. Mr. Symth just felt bad and Ponyboy was looking down at his feet.

"Ponyboy, you are so talented" Mr. Symth stated to him. Ponyboy just nodded his head. "I want you to sign up for AP class next year."

"No way, I already in a class full of socs." Ponyboy shook his head.

"You changed their minds with that poem. Ponyboy you can change the world with your writing if you gave yourself the chance. You have to believe in yourself. The Outsiders was a great book. I couldn't put that book down and I keep rereading that book." Mr. Symth patted Ponyboy's shoulder.

Ponyboy nodded his head before leaving the classroom and he held his books in his hands while socs kept staring at him. Ponyboy was walking towards his locker when he saw that the fuzz was trying to open it with a crowbar. Ponyboy sighed before deciding to open the locker for them.

"There you go. I have nothing to hide." Ponyboy raised an eyebrow and leaned against the locker somehow looking cool and relaxed in that moment. "Whatever you find, I hope you are happy."

"We have a warrant." The fuzz spat out to Ponyboy and Ponyboy rolled his eyes.

"I don't care about the warrant. You could have simply asked instead of vandalizing school property." Ponyboy sassed out loud to the fuzz. Everybody in the hallway watching them looked shocked.

Randy pushed out the crowd's way and Ponyboy gave him a small smile while shrugging his shoulders.

"I'm telling you, Mr. Curtis you are going to slip up sometime and when you do I will be there to arrest you." One of the fuzz, Erik spat out getting in Pony's face but Pony kept his cool. A trick he learned from Two-bit and Dally.

The girl in yellow walked up the fuzz and was now standing in front of Pony.

"That's enough dad go home now." She spoke harshly and her dad just gaped at his daughter.

"You really going to defend this trailer trash" Erik said to his daughter.

"What if I am? Even if he did kill that son of bitch, he deserved it and we not going to let him suffer anymore. He's not Dallas Winston." She huffed out. Erik and his team walked away leaving the girl in the yellow behind. Ponyboy sighed while shaking his head.

"When are they going to leave me alone?" He said out loud.

"I'll tell my dad what happened today." Randy patted Pony on the shoulder leaving him and the girl in the yellow dress.

"I'm Liv" She introduced herself to Ponyboy. "I'm sorry about what I said about you being hood."

"It's okay I understand. We cool now. I have to go. Thanks for your help." Ponyboy gave her a small smile before leaving out of the school. He headed towards the DX and he saw Steve working the counter.

"What's up kid" He asked Pony and Pony sighed while sitting on the counter. Pony handed his poem towards Steve. Steve just looked at the piece of paper and started reading it.

"Has your brother read this" Steve questioned to Pony.

"No, I wanted you to read it first and I had to read it to class." Pony shrugged his shoulders.

"Are you okay" Steve asked Pony.

"I don't know. are you okay" Pony stared at Steve and Steve just shrugged his shoulders.

"Nope but I'm naturally just a fucked up so." Steve commented while handing Pony a towel urging Pony to come with him to the back. Steve needed to finished installing a new engine into a car by today.

"Hey Steve, you know who killed Buck." Pony asked Steve.

"You should really let this go."

"I'm tired of people treating me like I can break anytime." Pony complained. Steve put down the hood of the car and face Ponyboy.

"Dally told me you kept your clothes with the blood on it. You not okay. You can't be okay after what a few weeks after it happened. You were attacked twice Ponyboy. Can you honestly tell me you are over what Buck did or how about what those socs did to you." Steve folded his arms across his chest.

"You acting more and more like Soda." Ponyboy sighed before deciding to sit outside of the DX to get a smoke when he felt someone wrap his arm around Pony and whispered "You look hot."

Pony instantly flinched and felt panic rising in his system. Two-bit recognized what he did instantly and stepped away from Ponyboy. Ponyboy was now trying to not break down in public. Two-bit didn't know what to do, so he watched as Ponyboy bit his lip preventing tears. Dally came over with a pack of cigs.

"Ponyboy I am so sorry" Two-bit apologized and Ponyboy sighed.

"It's okay" Ponyboy took a deep breathe and in that moment, Two-bit saw the similarities of both Pony and Johnny. It was like the movie night when he scared Johnny by sounding like a soc.

"What did you do Two" Dally asked getting in Two-bit's face.

"I didn't know he would react like that i thought he was over it." Two-bit stuttered out slightly terrified of Dally.

"It's okay Dally, I mean it." Pony grabbed Dally's shoulder but Pony's face was still slightly paled and his hands were shaking. Dally shook his head and glared at Two-bit.

"I'm taking you home." Dally said to Pony and Pony nodded his head. Dally wrapped his arm around Pony and rubbed Pony's head.

"You are an idiot Keith" Dally sneered at him. "It will take him a long time to get over it and he might never get over it."

Two-bit felt like shit while he watched Pony buried his head into Dally's chest and shaking slightly. Ponyboy was hiding in Dally's arm trying to protect him at all cost.

Two-bit sighed while going into DX, two-bit needed his car fixed.

"What did you do Two-shit" Steve commented.

"I just thought it would be a joke." Two-bit said.

"What happened?" Steve asked

"I'm dead, soda and darry are going to kill me" Two-bit frowned. "I said that he looked hot in my impressions."

"How many times did I tell you needed to stop doing those socs impressions?" Steve commented calmly.

"He was shaking"

"Of course he was Two-shit. It takes years to move past it" Steve huffed out before telling Two-bit to go and Steve looked down at his wrists to see faded scar marks.


End file.
